Macro Monday - Northern Flicker

The other day, I was sitting at my computer, staring out the window, daydreaming working really, really hard, when, all of a sudden, someone decided that it would be a good idea to start using a pneumatic drill on my roof. I was not impressed and neither was my cat.

"What the bloody hell!" I declared

"Prrrrruupppp!!!" she declared.

We both craned our necks out of the window and what should flash by? A red-shafted northern flicker (Colaptes auratus). Not a pneumatic drill, afterall - which I was quite relieved about, since I don't recall giving anyone permission to use a drill up there. These most beautiful of birds are quite common around here and the males like to communicate and declare their territories by drumming on things, including, apparently, my roof. Unlike most woodpeckers, they actually like to eat ants and other creepy crawlies down on the ground. They use their rather impressive beaks to find their lunch in your lawn and their long barbed tongues to ensnare innocent invertebrates.

So, I was quite the happy birder when, yesterday, we manage to catch one of these woodpeckers in one of our mist nets.  It was a female and she was just fabulous!

While I was out nerding birding, a little oregon junco flew down and posed quite nicely for a few photos before tweeting goodbye. No, he didn't have a cell phone - he really did tweet.........

For more Macro Monday, go here.

Oh and just so that you don't worry about me over the next few weeks, I will be going AWOL - the time has come to deal with the not-a-baby-bump and apparently they don't have WiFi at the hospital - what!?!?! Useless public health system. I bet if there was a private option, they would offer WiFi........