Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: making a cavity

This photo was taken on 4 February 2016, when I was on a birding walk with friends, in Weaselhead. Unfortunately, it was heavily overcast - though there was no sign of the sun, it wasn't that cold. Many of our temperatures this winter have been so ridiculously mild. Maybe a week ago, it soared to +16.4C on the one day, breaking a 90-year record for that date! Whatever happened to the -20Cs and -30Cs? Makes you wonder what our summer is going to be like! The following is a list of the species seen: FFCPPSoc. BIRDING, Weaselhead Natural Area, Calgary, 0915-1215, Thu, 04Feb2016. Heavy overcast, NW wind 15kph, -2 to 3°C. Combined results, 2 groups. 1. Bald Eagle-1ad 2. Downy Woodpecker-5 3. Hairy Woodpecker-2 4. Northern Flicker-1 5. Blue Jay-3+ 6. Black-billed Magpie-3 7. Common Raven-5 8. Black-capped Chickadee-20 9. Boreal Chickadee-3 10. Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 heard 11. White-breasted Nuthatch-2 12. Bohemian Waxwing-1 13. Pine Grosbeak-40+ 14. House Finch-8+ 15. White-winged Crossbill-1 16. Common Redpoll-150 17. Pine Siskin-50 18. American Goldfinch-1 Coyote-1 Red Squirrel-8 White-tailed Deer-4+ "The active little Downy Woodpecker is a familiar sight at backyard feeders and in parks and woodlots, where it joins flocks of chickadees and nuthatches, barely outsizing them. An often acrobatic forager, this black-and-white woodpecker is at home on tiny branches or balancing on slender plant galls, sycamore seed balls, and suet feeders. Downies and their larger lookalike, the Hairy Woodpecker, are one of the first identification challenges that beginning bird watchers master." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id/

A beautiful Northern Flicker hybrid, stopping long enough to briefly turn its head away from the cavity it was busy making. He's using his tail for balance. Photographed at Carburn Park on March 3rd. Words from a local naturalist, that were made about a previously-posted Northern Flicker, that explain what a hybrid looks like: "This photo shows characteristics common to the Northern Flickers in the Calgary area. All of our birds are basically hybrids between the western Red-shafted and the eastern Yellow-shafted forms. This bird is a male, indicated by the moustache or malar stripe. This is normally red in the western form and black in the eastern form. Both colours occur on this bird. The yellow shafts of the eastern form are plainly visible in the wing of this birds. Also characteristice of the Yellow-shafted is the red nape patch. Uncharacteristic is the gray throat, typical of the western form. The markings around the eye, while most like the western form, are more exaggerated." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_flicker/id/ac en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Flicker

This photo is perhaps a little misleading, as this beautiful Northern Flickr was hard at work making a cavity in the tree trunk. This resulted in most of my captures having a very blurry head - oh, the joys of trying to photograph Woodpeckers, of any kind : ) Photographed this beauty down at Sikome, Fish Creek Park, on April 26th. Quite a dark little spot, in amongst the trees. Good morning, Jim (Garnite) and Linda! Hope you had a restful night (both of you) and that Jim's body was able to rest and grow a little stronger, ready for that wonderful moment when he will wake up and open his eyes. So many people are waiting for this good news! Thinking of you both!