How A Northern Flicker Uses Its Tail

The Northern Flicker has incredible strength in her lower body and tail feathers. She uses them to help balance her as she pecks out a nesting hole.

The Flicker (ABOVE) takes precaution in between hole pecking and digging chores to look out for predators. But she’s not far removed from her work, as her tail remains in anchoring position.

Periodically, she disappears into the hole she’s digging, turns around, comes out half way (ABOVE) and “spits” the wood chips to the ground. She repeats this over and over until the hole she desires for nesting has been deepened and formed to her liking.

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Credit:
Photos from the personal and copyrighted collection of Barbara Anne Helberg

 

Lucky Day

It’s really difficult to catch a sharp picture of a flying big bird with my modest Canon digital, but I had my lucky day recently. I caught this fellow just in time before he left my frame. He flew over the Maumee River from bank to bank (South to North) as I stood on the bridge watching.

He’s a Great Blue Heron. It’s easy to see in this picture how the bird folds in his stick feet in flight. Also, his small tail feathers are clearly on display.

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Credit:
Photo from the personal and copyrighted collection of Barbara Anne Helberg