WOODPECKERS: RED-SHAFTED FLICKER 
377 
sharp, and in the breeding season, as they are unable to sing, they beat a 
far-reaching tattoo. 
References.—Beal, F. E. L., Biol. Surv., U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 37, 1911.— 
Beal, F. E. L., and F. A. Lucas, £iol. Surv., U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 77, 1895 (food 
and tongues).— Eckstorm, F. H., The Woodpeckers, 1901.— Gardner, Leon L., 
Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 2591, vol. 67, art. 19, pp. 1, 3, 6, 9, 22-23; pis. 3, 10, 1925 
(tongues).—^Luc as, F. A., Bird-Lore, II, 5-9, 1900 (tongues); Rep. U. S. Nat. 
Mus. for 1895, 1001-1019.— McAtee, W. L., Biol. Surv. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 39, 
1911.— Thayer, G. H., Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, 49-50, 
114, 1909. 
RED-SHAFTED FLICKER: Colaptes cafer coMris Vigors 
Plates 37 .and 38 
Description. — Length: 12.7-14 inches, wing 6.4-7.1, tail 4.4-5.2, bill 1.3-1.5. 
Adult male: Head and body mainly brownish with back and wings barred, and under - 
parts below red “mustache” and black chest crescent, spotted with black; tail mainly 
black; shafts and underside of tail and wings red; iris reddish brown to brownish red, 
bill blackish, legs and feet bluish gray. Adult female: Similar to adult male, but 
red mustache only faintly suggested by a brownish stripe. Young male in juvenal 
plumage: Similar to adult male but coloration duller and black chest patch smaller, 
spots on underparts less sharply defined, and feathers of head tipped with paler. 
Young female in juvenal plumage: Similar to young male but red mustache replaced 
by a brown stripe. 
Range. —Western North America (except middle Pacific coast region). Breeds 
from southeastern British Columbia (where a few probably winter, Brooks and 
Swarth), central Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and North Dakota south to 
Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Zacatecas, Durango, and northern California; winters 
over most of its United States and Mexican range. 
State Records. —The Red-shafted Flicker is in summer the most numerous 
woodpecker of New Mexico. [Well distributed, but not common in the Sangre de 
Cristo region, breeding at high altitudes (Ligon, 1919).] One was seen August 
11, at timberline, 12,300 feet on the south side of Truchas Peak, and they were 
found breeding up to 11,600 feet at the foot of Pecos Baldy, where a pair were 
feeding young nearly ready to fly August 16, 1903, and a single old bird was seen 
feeding young out of the nest at 11,000 feet August 6, 1903. The next summer in 
the Taos Mountains they were seen from 7,400 feet in Pueblo Canyon to 11,400 
feet in Wheeler’s Peak amphitheater (Bailey); and the following year were found 
breeding at 7,000 feet near Fort Wingate (Hollister). [In 1923, in northern Santa 
Fc County they were very common, breeding from 5,500 to 12,500 feet (Jensen). 
At Lake Burford, 7,700 feet, they were fairly common and breeding May to June, 
1918 (Wetmore).] These altitudes—5,500-12,500 feet—represent approximately 
the upper and lower limits of the breeding range of the species in northern New 
Mexico. In the southern part of the State, fresh eggs were found May 17, 1913, 
near Chloride, 6,200 feet, and young just hatched June 3, 1913, in Monument Pass, 
8,000 feet (Ligon); [on and about the Animas Mountains they were abundant May 
7 and 8, 1920. Young were seen in the nest June 28, 1920, in Black Canyon, 28 
miles southwest of Chloride, at 8,000 feet (Ligon)l; and they breed as low as 6,000 
feet at Silver City (Marsh); at Rincon, 4,000 feet (Ligon); and in the low hot valley 
at Mesilla, 3,800 feet (Merrill). They breed east to Sierra Grande (Howell), 
Halls Peak (Barber), Mesa Yegua (Bailey), Capitan Mountains (Gaut), and 
Guadalupe Mountains (Bailey). 
The species was very common in the foothills and along the Red River in Colfax 
County, July 28-October 24, 1913 (Kalmbach). In the fall it spreads eastward 
