The Burke Museum collection at the UW likewise has a bewildering array of intergrade flickers -- just about every degree of every permutation of the relevant characteristics. They also have in their collection some Northern Oriole specimens that blur the distinction between the "Baltimore" and "Bullock's" races.

James West

----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Paulson
To: Tweeters
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 12:39 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] intergrade flickers


Hello, tweeters.


Just a short comment on this subject. The Slater Museum collection is full of intergrade flickers. They are actually not at all uncommon, as Clarice Clark mentioned, especially if you consider every "red-shafted" flicker with a bit of red on the nape (a "yellow-shafted" character) an intergrade. I have one or more in my yard every year. They are not all migrants; at least some breeding flickers in Washington, anywhere in the state, can show intergrade characters, although probably when you see one that's strikingly intermediate (orange wings, black-and-red malar stripe, red malar stripe + complete red nape band), it is likely a migrant from somewhere to the north and/or northeast where the two types meet. They meet along a long zone of intergradation, as you can see from looking at field-guide maps.


Typical Yellow-shafted Flickers are in Washington normally only during the winter, and they seem to be more common on the coast. They presumably come here from Alaska.

-----

Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382

dennispaulson at comcast.net





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