October 13, 2003
What bird is this?
It acts very much like the regular doves that root for seeds and insects in the yard, but it's got a custom trim package. Its wings also make a somewhere deeper whirring when it flees.
After this bird had left the second time I went out on the deck and sat very quietly, listening to the leaves clattering one by one to the ground, until it came back. It foraged some more, but as soon as I raised the camera it was off.
UPDATE Turns out it's a Northern Flicker. The last line of the guide entry says: "...the only woodpeckers in North America that commonly feed on the ground, searching for ants and beetle larvae".
Posted by wallich at October 13, 2003 11:56 AMI've never seen one, but I can make it's sound.
Posted by: auntb at October 15, 2003 11:50 AMOH, MY GOD!!!
I PUT AN APOSTROPHE, I AM SO EMBARRASSED.
I guess not teaching English for 3 years has made me doty.