Thursday, November 05, 2009

Gardening flicker.

I had a quick errand at the Strathcona Community Gardens yesterday. I was stopped at the entrance by this flicker. It was digging holes in the loose dirt alongside the path, using its beak as a shovel.



Thigh-deep, surrounded by the still-moist dirt it has thrown out of the hole. It eventually got down deep enough for its back to line up at ground level.



A blurry photo, but I liked it because of the detail of the upper tail feathers.

I changed my plans and spent an hour or more in the gardens, wandering about and following birds. More on this tomorrow.
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:49 am

    We often see Flickers on the ground but have never noticed the burrowing. Something else to watch for!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great photograph! We've got some very nice dark-eyed juncos, spotted towhees, and white-crowned sparrows in our garden doing a lot of scratching as well. Unfortunately, they aren't posing for their pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the photos, The Flickers are cool birds and I love to see them.

    ReplyDelete

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