FLICKER CAM ARCHIVE
September 2005 - February 2006
Nesting Season 2006 Winter 2004-2005
Nesting Season 2004
FLICKER CAM ARCHIVE September 2005 - February 2006 Nesting Season 2006 Winter 2004-2005 Nesting Season 2004 |
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| FLICKER TIMELINE: Autumn 2005 Northern Flicker (Red Shafted) Colaptes auratus cafer |
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September 12: Something has knocked
the balsa baffle out of the flicker box opening, and pecked a
small hole in the wood square. On September 11th, we observed a male
flicker with red ,mustache and a red chevron, pecking ants from the
lawn. We are hopeful that the bird was Joker, the male who nested
in the box last spring. We have reactivated the inside camera, and will
keep watch to see if we can determine if it was a flicker or some other
creature that disturbed the baffle. |
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September 26: A male flicker
appeared in the box around 12:00 noon, and again at about 2:15,
staying about 15 minutes both times. We can't tell from the photos
if it is Joker or some other male, but at least the activity is definitely
a flicker! The outside camera was dismantled when we reshingled the
roof, and we haven't gotten it back in working order yet. Hence, no outside
pictures of our bird. |
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October 5th: A flicker visited again
today. This time we can see the red chevron on the back of his
head--it's Joker, the male from the spring 2005 nesting season! |
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October 11th: Joker is back
in the box at 6:28 p.m., but only stays a few minutes instead of
roosting the entire night. |
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October 12th: A flicker
appears for a few minutes in the morning, and returns for one frame
at about noon. |
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October 17th: A bird appears
in the box for a few minutes around noon-time. From the chevron
on the back of the head, we believe it's Joker again. He seems to be
excavating a few chips from the box. |
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November 14th: After
a month of little activity, a flicker appears in the box at 11:26
a.m. The stripe pattern seems too pronounced to be Joker, but without
a view of the head, it's impossible to say for sure. We have seen Joker
looking for the suet feeder in the back yard, so we think he's still
in the area. |
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November 29th: Even
bitter cold weather has not induced any flickers to spend the night
in our box. Today one paid a visit for just one frame. The stripe pattern
is consistent with our friend, Joker. |
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December 12th :We have set up the suet
feeder to attract more flickers to our yard and hope to have a camera
set up to record the action soon. We have seen downy woodpeckers and
flickers at the suet, but so far Joker has not been among them. Today,
two starlings were in and out of the box for about 25 minutes from
9:20-9:45 a.m. The intruders left their calling card in the bottom
of the box, too! 
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Above: Hey! Who put these chips in here? Below: Oh, well, I can fit in here anyway. 
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January 6-8th, 2006: Joker has been back
in the box, so today we re-stuffed it with pine chips and re-did the cameras.
It didn't take long for the bird to discover the change!
On the back of his head, a chevron is clearly visible in this picture. We have only seen one hybrid male with this marking, so we're confident this bird is Joker, our nesting male from 2005. |
A thin piece of balsa keeps the starlings out. The flickers can peck throught the barrier in a matter of minutes if they so desire. |
February 15th: We've
replaced the balsa starling baffle, because the starlings were in the
box and the flicker's weren't. Joker has disappeared. There's been a
sharp shinned hawk hunting in our area--we've seen him take sparrows
from our feeder, and take off from the ground with a robin in his talons.
We have yet to catch a photo of the hawk on one of our cameras. There
haven't been nearly the numbers of flickers around the suet this year
as last--the most we've counted is three, where last year we counted up
to a dozen at one time. We do have one female flicker that likes to sit
near the suet and seems to guard it. We're not sure if it's the hawk or the
flicker keeping other birds away. For a while, we had a pair of flickers interested
in the box, excavating and guarding it--we even saw them change places, with
both briefly in the box at the same time at one point. But the birds have
lost interest in the box. No drumming on the house as yet this spring.
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Above: Male flicker guarding suet Below: Female flicker guarding suet. 
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January & February
2006: We installed a camera on our suet feeder, since there is far
more bird activity around the feeder than the box. Joker has disappeared,
but since we began watching, the female flicker that has been guarding
the suet has been joined by a male; they take turns. When a rival approaches,
they bob their heads and gesture threateningly. Unfortunately, this tactic
rarely has the desired effect on anything other than another flicker.
They sometimes will peck at and chase starlings, but the starlings are
often successful by shear force of numbers. The squirrels take over by
virtue of their size. The downy woodpeckers give the flickers a wide berth,
but are bold enough to sneak a bite when the flickers aren't looking. Good
thing there's an inexhaustible supply of suet, so there's enough for all
of our guests!
Above: There's not much the flicker can do when the squirrel moves in. Below: The female flicker and starling tolerate each other for the moment. 
Below: the downy sneaks a beakful of suet. The flicker is seemingly unaware. 
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February 18th: Caught some pictures of
what we think may be the sharp-shinned hawk. It sat above the suet for
about 6 minutes this morning. Unfortunately, the resolution on the photos
and camera angle make positive identification difficult. Once thing's
for sure--it's not a flicker, and it's not a starling! |
| 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 |
