Female Northern Flicker Siblings

A pair of Northern Flickers getting together

Where we used to live we had a bird feeder, suet, and hummingbird feeders on our back deck so it was a very popular spot. Birds would often perch in the hemlock tree that grew right next to the deck. The pair of female northern flickers pictured above were sisters (by my best guess) who would often arrive together and sit on the branch in a holding pattern, taking turns at the suet cage. I once saw them do the most miraculous little dance…they were standing on the branch very close together, bobbing and weaving back and forth, making little sounds. I asked our local bird expert (Tony Greenfield) about it and he told me that it was likely that the flickers were siblings who were about to go their separate ways in the world. It was an amazing scene to watch and I’ll never forget it. On occasion I would see whole families of flickers arrive and that was always a special treat.

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