Flickers - red shafted versus yellow shafted

Top and left:  Yellow-shafted flicker.  Bottom and right:  Red-shafted flicker.

Having lived in BC for the last 38 years, I have seen a lot of Northern Flickers, but they have all been of the red-shafted variety.  Yesterday, while visiting Lloydminster, on the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta, I saw my first yellow-shafted one.  The difference was quite stark.  

Male red-shafted flickers have a red moustache while the yellow-shafted variety have a black moustache.  There also seems to be a bit of crown colouration differences, although I don't know how consistent this is between groups or plumage variations.  The main difference, for both males and females, is the stark colour of the feather shafts which is yellow in one and red in the other.  Although this difference is a little hard to see when the bird is sitting, it becomes more obvious when flying if you can get a good look at it from underneath.

The birds both belong to the same species, although they are now considered subspecies.  Where their ranges meet there is a certain degree of hybridization.  Hybrids may have the black moustache of the yellow but the red shafts of the other.  Face colouration also seems to be involved to some extent.  The birds used to be considered different species, but hybridization produces sexually viable offspring and the birds differ very little from each other genetically.

This was the first yellow-shafted flicker I have photographed, or even seen for that matter where I am conscious of the fact.  Their behaviours in flight, propensity for eating ants, and time spent on the ground all seem to be about the same.  It was awesome to finally see one.

There is a map you can look at that shows the ranges and hybridization areas of both subspecies.  Click here to see it.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com