More Flickers

Last week I wrote about the northern flicker that landed in the tree by my window. Here's a few more of them, this time on the grassy lawn that overlooks New York Harbor on Pier 1 of Brooklyn Bridge Park. There was a flock of flickers there this weekend. I was alerted to it by Heather Wolf who has taken pictures of ALL the birds in that park. Click on this link to see them: http://brooklynbridgebirds.tumblr.com. You can tell that the flicker pictured above is a female by her unmarked face. 

The male has a black mark on his face, usually called a mustache, but technically a malar stripe.  Click to enlarge. 

The male also has a red crescent on its nape -- just like the female's. Both have dark tipped bills this day because they've been probing in the mud for tasty invertebrates.