Claysmom, perhaps your son would be interested in making his property a Certified Wildlife Habitat? This is easier than most people might think. You just need to provide food, shelter and water for various types of animals. You can Google it and read all about the requirements online, and even print out an application for the official certification. Nicki's city yard is certified, so even those without rural property can qualify. I encourage everyone who is interested to check it out. (If I can managed to stay on the computer long enough, I'll see if I can find the link, but I'm having some unanticipated difficulties from my foot surgery, and won't be here very long.) Glad you guys enjoyed seeing this old post pop up again. I do love these birds, and am happy it was of interest to you. Marcia

Hi Jane, I studied the reproductive biology of flickers from 2003-2009 as part of my job (I am a wildlife biologist). What you probably saw is a territorial dispute between 2 males. I doubt that one bird is a female since, although they can look similar when recently fledged, they would have molted already into adult plumage prior to their first breeding season. For instance, some recenlty fledged female Hairy Woodpeckers can have red on top of the head resembling a male, but then by winter, have molted into adult female plumage and lost all red. Woodpeckers, including flickers, have very distinct behaviors when it comes to territorial disputes. There is rarely any direct fighting, instead, the birds posture to each other, often holding their beaks at weird angles, flattening themselves to branches/trunks, waving their heads back and forth, wing flashing, etc. All of this is done to avoid direct contact fighting. However, sometimes there are fights which can resemble mating. Now, I am not saying for sure that they aren't two males trying to hook up, but from what I have observed of these birds over a seven-year period, a territorial dispute sounds more likely. Further, this is the time of year (March) when most woodpeckers begin firmly establishing territories in preparation of the breeding season. I just wanted to chime in my own behavioral observations of flickers and what I know of woodpecker behavior in general. BN

Everyone has to start somewhere..and people make mistakes identifying species at every level of birding! Besides, those Starlings can mimic anything..even passing cars. I had my own dilemma yesterday-couldn't decide what plover I'd photographed..kept hoping it was a rare Wilson's Plover, but finally decided it was just a Semipalmated. It's beak and legs were covered with mud, but seems to be a bit of red on the base of the beak. 9-6-09, Minor Clark Fish Hatchery, juvenile Semipalmated Plover using "vibrating foot" to find food From Black Terns I posted the pic on Twitter yesterday asking for an ID confirmation, but got nothing so far, so consulted the National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America, which uses actual photographs instead of paintings. I always feel embarrassed when someone does point out the true ID of something because it suddenly becomes so obvious that I can't believe I missed it..like those pesky molting Black Terns a couple of weeks ago-had to post the photo on Twitter to find out what they were From Black Terns

Same dilemma as to what these are. Took this pix last month, dark beaks and the top one looks like the legs are reddish. I took this a month ago so don't remember how large the birds were, far away up in a tree. Follow up: Bob Carlton Rossmoor Nature Ass'n Prez identified these as European Starlings in fall plummage. More bird images in that gallery. Here is a link that might be useful: Birds congregating...Starlings This post was edited by Cowgirl_in_the_Sand on Wed, Dec 12, 12 at 13:03