[370] BIRDS OF OREGON 



Northwestern Flicker: 



Colapfes cafer cafer (Gmelin) 



DESCRIPTION. Similar to C. c. collaris but darker. Sift: Length 12.. 75-14.00, wing 

 6.35-7.00, tail 4.70-5.10, exposed culmen 1.35-1.60. Nest: Similar to C. auratus 

 luteus. Eggs: 5 to 10, white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Northwest coast district from Sitka, Alaska, to Humboldt 

 County, California. In Oregon: Permanent resident that breeds throughout Willam- 

 ette Valley, Umpqua Valley, and along entire Coast Ranges through coast counties. 



THE NORTHWESTERN FLICKER is the breeding form of all of Oregon west 

 of the Cascades, except Jackson and Josephine Counties. It winters 

 throughout its range and occasionally in the Rogue River Valley. In 

 the country it inhabits, it is by far the most common woodpecker and 

 ranks as one of the characteristic and most common birds of the district. 

 Townsend (1839) first listed it as an Oregon bird, and since his time much 

 has been published about this very widely distributed species, although 

 most of the literature is applicable to the Red-shafted Flicker. 



It is impossible to assign this bird to any definite habitat, as it is found 

 so universally through western Oregon that it vies with the robin as the 

 most commonly observed bird. It is frequently most unwoodpeckerlike 

 in its behavior. Although it feeds in the orthodox manner, it also essays 

 the fly-catching stunt of Lewis's Woodpecker and is inordinately fond of 

 ants. It can be regularly seen on lawns and in meadows digging away 

 in the ground, tearing up ant hills, and catching the excited inhabitants 

 of the disrupted fortress on its sticky tongue. 



Normally these flickers nest, as do other woodpeckers, in holes that 

 they have excavated in trees for the purpose, either close to the ground 

 or high up in the branches of a giant tree. Frequently, however, a flicker 

 will cause some trouble and complaint by persistent attempts to drill a 

 nesting hole in a building; and in the St. Johns district of Portland, 

 despite an abundance of trees for normal nesting sites, several pairs have 

 for years excavated burrows in a steep bank along a railroad cut and 

 raised their families in these kingfisherlike apartments. Eggs are laid in 

 early May. Jewett located five nests on Government Island from April 2.9 

 to May 10 that contained five to seven eggs each. 



Red-shafted Flicker: 



Colapfes cafer collaris Vigors 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Ground color of head and body brownish, back barred 

 and under parts spotted with black; rump white and tail black; no nuchal band; 

 mustache red; chest marked with black crescent; under side of wings and tail red. Female: 

 Similar, but usually with a buffy or brown malar stripe. Young: Similar, but with- 

 out mustache. Length: 1^.75-14.00, wing 6.45-7.15, tail 4.4o~5.zo, exposed culmen 

 1.34-1.53." (Bailey) Nest: Same as C. auratus luteus. Eggs: 5 to 10, white. 



