FLICKER CAM ARCHIVE
January - April 2006
No flickers in the box this year. Winter 2004-2005
Nesting Season 2004
FLICKER CAM ARCHIVE January - April 2006 No flickers in the box this year. Winter 2004-2005 Nesting Season 2004 |
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| FLICKER TIMELINE: Spring 2006 Northern Flicker (Red Shafted) Colaptes auratus cafer |
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March 1: We heard the first prolonged
drumming of the season. It went on for about 20 minutes, starting at
about 6:30 a.m. Still no flicker activity around the bird box, however.
We changed the camera angle on the suet feeder--now it gives dramatic
close-ups of the action! |
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March 2nd-18th: We've had no more drumming
on the house since March 1st. There have been five or six crows sitting
in a nearby tree caw-cawing every morning for about a week. The male
and female flicker continue to visit the suet feeder regularly. Today,
a bird pecked at the balsa baffle, but not enough to dislodge it. The
tiny hole the bird made is barely visible on the outside camera, and not
apparent at all on the inside one. |
11:11 a.m. March 27th--the flicker breaks into the box. 
2:27p.m. March 28th--the bird spent 2 hours excavating and trying to remove the balsa from the box 
March 29th: the bird is back, excavating. This time it split the balsa square in half and threw it out of the box. |
March 27th-29th: A flicker pecked the
balsa baffle out of the box on the 27th, and spent almost an hour in
the box trying to kick out the pieces. It finally covered the square
of balsa with chips, and vanished for the day. It was back on the 28th
and finally broke the baffle in two pieces and was able to throw it
out of the box. The bird was back on the 29th and spent two hours, from
11:30-1:30 or so, excavating chips from the box. It's difficult to tell
if the bird is a female or male from the pictures we have this year. |
Above: 3/27/06--8:39 a.m. The flicker sits on the box. Below: 3/27/06--11:00 a.m. The flicker clings to the box opening 
Above: The bird looks out of the box after breaking down the baffle. His red mustache indicates it's a male. Below: the bird spent nearly two hours excavating on March 28th. The chips were flying! 
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March 30-April 3: The flicker has not been
back in the box. We mounted a starling-resistant box in a tree on April
1st. Since flickers are known to excavate and guard more than one nest hole,
we are hopeful the bird is in the new box. We do not have cameras installed
yet, but evidence of sawdust on the ground suggests there has been bird activity
in the box. |
| April-June 2006: The starlings took over the
nesting box on the house, so we moved the starling-resistant box to that
position, since the flickers were already showing interest in that location.
The box stopped the starlings, but the flickers never investigated it. Even
prior to the switch, we did not have a flicker drumming on the house this
year, but heard them on the neighbor's houses and in a nearby willow tree.
We have deactivated the cameras for 2006, but will leave the starling-resistant
nestbox in place and re-active the cameras as soon as there is flicker activity
again. |
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| Flicker Cam provides
views of a privately maintained bird box in Centennial,
Colorado. Web design by Andrea Loughry. Technical support by Joe Loughry. Email us |
