Backyard Birding: Flickers, Woodpeckers, Warblers, Wrens, Titmice and a cat...

William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- Genesis 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.”

Northern Flicker

Downy Woodpecker

Pine Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Tufted Titmouse burying acorn.

Animated Carolina Wren.

Thursday, 5:12 PM - Sitting on my back patio in the warm fall sun, I spotted the characteristic large black bibs of two Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus) in the backyard behind the girls' trampoline. I’ve only seen them in my backyard on a few occasions, and always in the fall. They were hopping around on the ground like Robins, pecking into the dirt and grass. Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website, www.allaboutbirds.org, says, “Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.”

​I know Flickers are categorized as woodpeckers, but they seem so unlike the other woodpeckers. They don't bare the typical black/white/red colors of the other woodpeckers, like the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) that came to my suet feeder a few minutes later. In addition, Flickers are more often on the ground or perched on a limb, rather than clinging to sides of trees like the other woodpeckers. But they are very much a delight to see.  I moved off the patio hoping to get a closer and clearer shot of the Flickers, but they retreated to my neighbor’s fenced backyard.
 
While back by the feeders hoping the Flickers would come closer, a Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus) landed not far from me. Just after that, I spotted another little yellow bird that I wasn’t sure if I’d seen before or not. The warblers really stump me.  I did poorly on the Natural History bird section exam at UGA Warnell Forestry School 20 years ago and still stink at identifying warblers. Again I turned to an expert birder at Oconee Rivers Audubon Society, who quickly identified this one as a fall Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens).  Glad I asked, for I would never have figured it out!

Other side shows were put on by a comical Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) attempting to stuff a small Water Oak acorn into the dirt under a pile of leaves and an animated Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) flittering and chattering through the underbrush. All of this action and wonder just spending a spare 65 minutes in my own backyard! 

Just after photographing these beautiful birds, my neighbor's cat ran out from behind my shed and reminded me why I wish all cat owners would keep their domesticated animals indoors. What if it had been the warbler instead of the chipmunk? I wouldn't have had a chance to add a Black-throated Green Warbler to my life list! (See UGA's in-depth study on wildlife depredation by domestic cats.)
 
Athens, Georgia