Yet another bird ID thread

Factual Questions
1

I saw / heard a bird drumming (6-8 taps, 30 seconds, 6-8 taps) on top of my cedar birdfeeder. The bird was large (blue jay or mourning dove sized)
Overall light tan in color. The upper breast was black (semi circular patch), with the rest of the torso being white with black spots.
The back of the neck was red (crescent / smile shaped) The head itself was light tan.

Location: SE Minnesota. Suburbia but wooded areas and Mississippi River within a few miles. Today (April 27) about 18:30 local time.

any ideas?

thanks!

Brian

2

Northern Flicker

3

Sounds like probably a woodpecker of some kind to me.

4

Flickers are woodpeckers. However, besides drilling wood they also eat a lot of ants and spend a lot of time on the ground rather in trees.

5

Didn’t see your post when I submitted. :o You’re more expert on the topic than I, by far.

6

Definitely sounds like a flicker - my yard in PA is crawling with them.

7

I remember the top of thead being tan rather than grey, but that is definitely it.
I have had red headed woodpeckers before (esp when I had suet), but I knew it wasn’t that. I tried woodpeckers and related but obviously have up before finding n. flicker.

I may have seen them before, but its the 1st time at my feeder.

thanks

Brian

8

There are two different forms of Northern Flicker in the US, which were formerly considerd to be separate species. The Yellow-shafted Flicker (which I linked to above) is found in the east, including your area, and the Red-shafted Flicker is found in the west. The latter has a gray face and brown crown, the opposite of the Yellow-shafted form. The two forms hybridize extensively on the Great Plains, and intermediate individuals can be found over a wide area. It is quite possible the bird you saw had some hybrid characteristics such as a brown crown.