Northern Flicker – Page 2 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

It has been longer than usual since my last post. An ongoing and urgent family medical situation has kept me busy when not working. A small window of opportunity opened up this afternoon I headed out to Reifel.

I used bird families in the title and the first up is Emberizidae. This large group includes Towhees, Sparrows, Juncos, Longspurs and Buntings. The two I managed to capture this afternoon were,

… this White-crowned Sparrow,

… and a Dark-eyed Junco. Both of which seem to be present in greater numbers the last couple of weeks. This is normal for this time of year and into the winter season. Still no sign or further reports of the White-throated Sparrow.

Next up, Picidae, or woodpeckers.

This Pileated Woodpecker was busy looking for insects in this old snag,

… while this Northern Flicker was foraging along the ground.

Last but not least Gruidae, or cranes. In this case Sandhill Cranes of which there were 36 in the outer ponds this afternoon. I think that is the highest count I have seen there. I got the following series of shots of a juveniles running taking off.

It was a nice break from what has been a hectic week or so.

The last couple of days a Black Phoebe, a rare visitor in this area, and a Sora had been seen at Jericho Park in Vancouver. Unfortunately I was not able to get there until this morning. As is the case with a lot of migrants, they may not stay long. After a few hours of moving back and forth between the ponds where both birds had been seen, there was no sign of either of them.

While passing the time there were a few Northern Flickers foraging in the grass.

Along with some American Robins.

There are always gulls around here, but a little out of the ordinary was this California Gull.

It too was spending time in the grass, but I also managed these when it was in the pond.

Tag: Northern Flicker

Emberizidae, Picidae & Gruidae

A Miss At Jericho