Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Flicker calls
Date: Mar 8 23:08:31 2007
From: Christy Jobe - christyrj at hotmail.com


<snip>This spring I've noticed something about my neighborhood Flickers. As they come to my suet feeder, they call out every step of the way. ... Why all the fuss about "I'm going to the suet feeder"? Susan Collicott, Ballard, WA<snip>

Hi Tweets and Susan,

Though I can't answer Susan's question, I can validate her experience through my own recent observation. This past weekend Larry and I were working outside in the yard for several hours at his house on Camano Island. A few different times, we heard repeated loud calls that we initially took to be a Pileated Woodpecker. Several times we stopped our gardening to grab our binoculars and attempt to locate and visually identify the bird we were hearing. We were never successful at that, but did note on one occasion that just after hearing a series of calls, we entered the house and very soon thereafter saw a Flicker arrive at the suet feeder. We immediately wondered if our initial call identification had been incorrect. We were later able to compare the Flicker and Pileated Woodpecker calls on our Peterson "North American Birds" DVD, and sure enough, what we'd been hearing was a Flicker, not a Pileated.

Now we are definitely going to listen/watch for this behavior, to see if we can specifically note it! We have Flickers at the feeder all the time, throughout the year, but haven't before noticed the possible correlation between their call and their arrival. Is this "I'm going to the suet feeder!" a Spring behavior, perhaps related to mating? Fascinating...

Thanks for the post, Susan -- a very interesting question that gave me pause to rethink our experience of last weekend!

~Christy Jobe (and Larry Baxter)
Kenmore, WA and Camano Island, WA
christyrj at hotmail.com