# A bird ID without a picture
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 26, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284 "2014-05-26T15:09:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/1 "2014-05-26T15:09:41Z")
My mother has once again asked me a question I don’t know how to answer so I turn to you for help.
This is how she described it:
“It has a red heart on the back of its neck. Under the wings are yellow and its beak is long and skinny. The bird is slim and streamlined and about the size of a robin. When it takes off you can see very big white stripes going down the back that is revealed when the wings are out for flying. It has a simple single high pitched chirp. There were two of them.”
This was in Worcester MA, today.
I have never seen a bird like this and I know nothing about birds so I don’t even know where to look.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/2 "2014-05-26T15:13:47Z")
Could it have been a Northern Flicker? [Northern flicker - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_flicker)
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/3 "2014-05-26T15:18:17Z")
Very possibly apparently. She said it’s one of the ones they put on their short list.
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### Author:  [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/4 "2014-05-26T15:18:33Z")
Except for the white stripes, it sounds like a [northern flicker](http://birds.audubon.org/species/norfli).
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/5 "2014-05-26T15:29:00Z")
Thanks for the fast help. I found two pictures of flickers with what looks like white stripes so she’s satisfied that it’s what she saw.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/6 "2014-05-26T15:49:08Z")
> [@congodwarf](#):
>
> Thanks for the fast help. I found two pictures of flickers with what looks like white stripes so she’s satisfied that it’s what she saw.
Northern Flicker is what I immediately thought of from the description. It has a white lower back that might look like a stripe in flight.
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/7 "2014-05-26T19:42:08Z")
Thanks for the confirmation!
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### Author:  [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bird-id-without-a-picture/689284/8 "2014-05-28T14:04:27Z")
I love flickers. Their plumage is about as crazy as you can get with only blacks and greys and browns and a little bit of red.