Glynn Wilson

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A pair of Alabama yellow hammers, otherwise known as the Northern Flicker [colaptes auratus], visited the back yard to feed on Sunday. I have been trying to get pictures of this pair for years. They finally cooperated today. Maybe they were so hungry they didn’t pay me much mind.

While you can see the yellow tail feather in the shot up in the tree, where you would expect to find a woodpecker, see the shot on the ground below. According to scientists, flickers eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill. These seemed to be interested in the nuts all over the ground. There are so many this year the squirrels have not been able to bury them all to store up for the winter.

Out West, these woodpeckers tend to have a few partially hidden red tail feathers, thus the name red-shafted flicker. In the South, they have yellow tail feathers, which you can only see from certain angles, so they are often called yellow-shafted flickers.

These birds have a special place in state lore going all the way back to the Civil War, and it is the state bird of Alabama.

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A pair of pileated woodpeckers dryocopus pileatus hang out regularly in the vicinity of Lake Chinnabee Recreation Area in the Talladega National Forest, just down the mountain from Cheaha State Park, Alabama’s highest point. These huge birds are nearly as large as a crow and are sometimes mistaken for the ivory-billed woodpecker, believed by many experts to be extinct, making this the largest woodpecker in most of North America. Its loud ringing calls and large rectangular excavations in dead trees reveal its presence in forests across the continent, although try getting close enough to one to get a full frame sharp photograph. They are shy and elusive for the most part, and dip when they fly, making them hard to photograph in flight. I got a few frames of this one Saturday morning, from too far away, across the creek running out of Lake Chinnabee.

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A yellow-rumped warbler [Dendroica coronata] stopped by the backyard birdbath on its way south Tuesday afternoon. (More on the way…)

Glynn Wilson

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This red-bellied woodpecker [melanerpes carolinus], close cousin to the northern flicker, also known as the yellow-hammer, the state bird of Alabama, stopped by for a meal atop a pine tree by our campsite Saturday afternoon in Cheaha State Park in the lower Campground No. 2 near Cheaha Lake.

Glynn Wilson

A pine warbler [dendroica pinus] showed up at the bird bath today on the way south during the fall bird migration of 2011.

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Glynn Wilson

A little yellow warbler has been hanging around the bird bath on Wednesday. Finally managed to grab a couple of shots. Not sure exactly what kind it is. Maybe an orange-crowned Warbler vermivora celata? Feedback from bird experts welcome.

Glynn Wilson

While setting up in the backyard bird blind to see what species I could photograph during the fall bird migration of 2011, this vibrant-colored blue jay [cyanocitta cristata] visited the bird bath and I was able to get quite a few shots. Pretty much every day, the large blue jays run other birds away from the bird bath when they are ready to drink or bathe by mimicking the call of the red-shouldered hawk. I’ve never seen any academic research on this, but I have witnessed it many times, so I know it to be true. (Click here or on the image to see a larger view.)

Glynn Wilson

It appears the ruby-throated hummingbirds [archilochus colubris] have begun their fall migration already. The females have been coming around the feeder for the past few days. I finally took the time this morning to get some shots with the new big lens. This is the best from the first series, with this female sharing the feeder with a yellow-jacket. More to come…

Glynn Wilson

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A male rose-breasted grosbeak [pheucticus ludovicianus] making a stop in the backyard bird sanctuary in middle Alabama during the spring bird migration of 2011.

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