Greetings Lee and others

Yellow-shafted Flickers are rare migrants/winter visitors to WA. They seem a
more numerous in w. WA than e. WA. Most records are early October into early
or mid-April. The earliest fall record I know of is 12 Sep. Don't know about
latest spring. That Yellow-shafteds are more numerous in w. WA seems
counterintuitive, but the same thing occurs with Myrtle Warblers, which are far more
common in w. WA than e. WA.

Personally, I see only 1-5 "pure" Yellow-shafteds per year in Washington out
of hundreds of flickers total. In w. WA, with careful scrutiny, about 30% of
flickers that I see from Oct-Mar show marks of both races. In e. WA, that
number is probably about 10%. Note, these are rough estimates.

I think "pure" YSFLs (ie, birds not showing any field characters of RSFL) are
much scarcer than people realize, and that many apparent intergrades are
identified as Yellow-shafteds -- at least given the larger-than-expected number
that appear on Christmas Bird Counts and the like.

Best Wishes
Steven Mlodinow (STML)
Everett WA