I may have written about this before, but I'm always amazed by how
social flickers are. I don't usually think of any of our local
woodpeckers as social (not counting Acorn, which I don't consider
local), but when the flickers come to our two suet feeders, they
typically come in a bunch, 3 or 4 individuals at once, occasionally
more. They are aggressive, often displacing one another from the
feeders with lots of displaying, but they are clearly associated. I
wonder if this is an anti-predator evolutionary strategy, just like
juncos feeding in flocks. Flickers feed on the ground, so they are
surely more vulnerable to predation than our other woodpeckers. It's
fun to see all the interactions.

One of the flickers is a male with red-shafted body and head plumage
but with yellow (slightly yellow-orange) wings and tail.
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net

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