CBC flickers
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Ted Floyd
Dec 19, 2019, 10:12:39 PM12/19/19
to Colorado Birds
Hey, all. I've been enjoying the CBC write-ups. Please keep 'em coming.
Say, just a gentle exhortation here about flickers. Hybrids (or "intergrades") are legion, and pure Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted flickers are difficult to document in the field along and near the I-25 corridor where so many CBCs are centered. First-generation ("F1") adult male hybrids are relatively easily to recognize as such, but others--females, hatch-years, and those pesky backcrosses--are considerably more difficult. I am increasingly persuaded that perhaps we can't say "Yellow-shafted" and "Red-shafted" for a great many of the birds we see in the field.
Bottom line: I think we should use "Yellow-shafted" and "Red-shafted" pretty sparingly, at least east of the mountains.
Say, just a gentle exhortation here about flickers. Hybrids (or "intergrades") are legion, and pure Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted flickers are difficult to document in the field along and near the I-25 corridor where so many CBCs are centered. First-generation ("F1") adult male hybrids are relatively easily to recognize as such, but others--females, hatch-years, and those pesky backcrosses--are considerably more difficult. I am increasingly persuaded that perhaps we can't say "Yellow-shafted" and "Red-shafted" for a great many of the birds we see in the field.
On the Wed., Dec. 18, Fountain Creek CBC, the two flickers I saw reasonably well were hybrids. One was obvious. This guy:
Another, perhaps an F2, was less obvious:
Both of these are adult males. Would I have recognized them as hybrids if they were females, or hatch-years, or hatch-year females? Or hatch-year female backcrosses?? I'm not at all confident of that proposition.
Bottom line: I think we should use "Yellow-shafted" and "Red-shafted" pretty sparingly, at least east of the mountains.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County
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