Here in the East, we have an acronym for the plaintive call that a Northern Flicker utters when it’s being chased around by a Merlin (or Merlins) in autumn: FID — Flicker in Distress. It’s kind of a wimpy complaint. You hear any of those?
Bryan, wow, yes, that is exactly what I heard/observed. FID.
I used the words “vocalizing nervously as they flew” because what they were ‘saying’ wasn’t quite like any of their other, more familiar calls. It was “kind of a wimpy complaint,” but I didn’t know just how to describe that.
FID — Flicker in Distress nails it. And that it seems to be an autumn thing, a ‘being hunted’ utterance is fascinating. You are such a font of wisdom and knowledge. THANK YOU!
What a lovely glimpse into what goes on probably quite regularly in the bird world! As you said, there is so much to see when we slow and pay attention.
I'm also intrigued by the fact that all this took place during the day. This is the second owl experience you've written about that happened in the daylight. Are your woods still dark enough after sunrise for owls to continue to hunt?
Good morning Sarah, thank you for the gift of your attention and your willingness to make the time to leave a note. I very much appreciate your attentive reading, and for noticing that once again this was a tale of an owl hunting in daylight. A bit of reading tells me that this is more of a feature than a bug with Barred Owls, that they are perhaps the most likely of North American owls to hunt in daylight, which may help explain why their populations seem to be be expanding at the expense of Spotted Owls, whose numbers are struggling. The woods are not as bright as, say, an open meadow, but they have been, in the case of both day-hunting tales shared here, bright enough to make pretty sharp photographs of each story's protagonist.
Your 'noticer' is an excellent one; not an easy thing to achieve... May your day be kind.
David, my God, what a beauty that barred owl is! That gaze makes my heart pitter-patter. And makes my heart sad, too. I know these gorgeous new arrivals are displacing my beloved spotted owls, that I've devoted almost 20 years to protecting. The federal effort to kill barred owls in the PNW to give spotties a chance is really picking up steam now, and I've been working up to writing about the controversy for a long time. The problem is, I love them both, barred owls and spotted owls, and I can't see where the solution lies. Maybe there isn't one. Anyway, thanks for the reminder of all the great beauty that exists. Maybe I'll take a crack at that post.
Oh, Rebecca, I'm so pleased that this found both pitter-patter and sad in you.
I'm well aware (though perhaps not quite as aware as you), of the displacement tensions of barreds vs spotteds, and actually talked through this very issue with two women hikers who stopped to chat while this barred owl was resting between chases, maybe ten minutes after I made the portrait pictured above. It is a thorny issue.
I do understand how the barred owls population growth in an area where spotted owls were once far more prolific is a real thing, and though I am somewhat untrusting of human 'quick fixes,' I can see, perhaps, a possible advantage to trying to help the spotted owls grow their populations by 'thinning the herds' of their competitors.
That said, in areas like mine here in Seattle, I am unaware of any Spotted Owl sightings and we have far, far too many rats, moles, grey squirrels and bunnies and very few night hunters to help keep their populations under control. So if we were to create a vacuum by eliminating the barred owls around here in the hopes that spotteds will magically appear, that would be much like many other human, 'I've got a plan.' fixits, that would in fact make many things worse. History is over-full of them, including the fact that we allowed greedy corporations to slash and burn millions of acres of mature, old growth forests and replant them with monoculture plantations that were absolute anathema to wild, solitary seeking spotted owls in the first place. I don't hear anyone proposing that we get rid of the leather-brained bean-counters that helped create this tension in the first place. Do you?
So, in places where there are spotted owls known to be trying to make a living and raise their families, I'm all for putting a finger on the scales a bit to give them enough freedom from territorial pressure to actually expand their ranges. But in areas with almost no viable populations of hunter/predators of any kind, whether mammal or bird, to help control rodent populations, it would seem the absolute epitome of folly to start killing off even one of these able hunters. They are doing important work in helping maintain some eco-system balance in busier and more chaotic places spotted owls are able to thrive.
I never saw barred owls hunting flickers but you most definitely did see that. Wow! We have Northern Flickers here on the Olympic Peninsula/western Washington year-round. They often gather up in small flocks in fall and winter, most likely for feeding opportunities. I believe that many of these additional birds are migrating from further north in Canada and Alaska, to spend the winters here.
PS: Flickers are more likely to feed on the ground than our other resident woodpeckers. They love ants, but will eat many insects, worms, fruits and mast. The Northern Flicker has two subspecies: Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted, along with hybrid intergrades. Red-shafted are the most common in these parts. Yellow-shafted are common back East and in Alaska/Yukon.
Great experience! Here in the Midwest the Northern Flickers will Migrate in loose flocks. They migrate away from areas with depleted food and areas that get heavier amounts of snow. I’m always excited to see a flock of flickers foraging on the ground in the fall and spring as they are moving around.
Great story and photos! Walking in a protected forest in West Virginia once, I found a couple dozen bright yellow (Flicker) feathers in a clump on the leaf litter. *Something* had happened. Maybe an owl?
We only occasionally see yellow-shafted flickers out here on the West Coast. Most of ours are red, but last winter there was a hardy band of three flickers, two red-shafted and one yellow who flew around together as a pack. The Cooper's Hawk loved to match wits and skills with them and I loved to watch...
I had no idea what flickers were (I’m from the UK) when I began to read this lovely piece of stalking/writing! I thought maybe they were some kind of small squirrel, but thanks to Google, I found an article from Audubon magazine with facts and photos - they are such handsome birds, a dapper collar and I love (what look like) the embossed chest spots, a bit thrush-like! We only have 3 types of woodpeckers here (Great Spotted, Lesser Spotted and Green) but I can see the family resemblance, especially to our Green Woodpecker - an ant-heap driller! I was intrigued to read that the US flicker has many local names, one of which apparently, is ‘gaffle’; our Green Woodpecker (here in the southwest of England anyway) is sometimes known with a name that rhymes, a ‘yaffle’ - it’s what they sound like, a cackling, witches laugh! Love that owl too. I so enjoy the word pictures you conjure (alongside the gorgeous photos) of places that are totally unfamiliar to me, thank you!
Wow, Liz, I've just learned several new things. Thank you.
Love your description, " it’s what they sound like, a cackling, witches laugh!"
Thank you for a lovely wander with you as you work through your very effective learning methods and for comparing and contrasting our North American Flickers with your UK woodpeckers. That was brilliant.
I'm so delighted to have fed your hungry eyes a bit and to have been a part of your learning dance. Thank you.
What a beauty Mr. Barred Owl is! (Wow, what an intelligent stare!) And hey hey for those Steller's jays shouting about the hunt---you get in on such marvy scenes by being so tuned in---new behavior noted is totes marvy, and the whole scene was dam exciting!
Some years ago, I found a barred owl deep in a thicket because a Cooper's Hawk was making odd calls and flying around as if distressed by something. I would not have expected the accipiter to see the owl as a threat - or was it a competitor? Either way, I thanked the Cooper's!
Great photo and story, David. Timely too….Flickers suddenly showed up en masse here near Victoria yesterday morning! 😎
Here in the East, we have an acronym for the plaintive call that a Northern Flicker utters when it’s being chased around by a Merlin (or Merlins) in autumn: FID — Flicker in Distress. It’s kind of a wimpy complaint. You hear any of those?
Bryan, wow, yes, that is exactly what I heard/observed. FID.
I used the words “vocalizing nervously as they flew” because what they were ‘saying’ wasn’t quite like any of their other, more familiar calls. It was “kind of a wimpy complaint,” but I didn’t know just how to describe that.
FID — Flicker in Distress nails it. And that it seems to be an autumn thing, a ‘being hunted’ utterance is fascinating. You are such a font of wisdom and knowledge. THANK YOU!
Hey! Yes, I’m in VT too. Never heard it called that , a wimpy
complaint , FID!
What a lovely glimpse into what goes on probably quite regularly in the bird world! As you said, there is so much to see when we slow and pay attention.
I'm also intrigued by the fact that all this took place during the day. This is the second owl experience you've written about that happened in the daylight. Are your woods still dark enough after sunrise for owls to continue to hunt?
Good morning Sarah, thank you for the gift of your attention and your willingness to make the time to leave a note. I very much appreciate your attentive reading, and for noticing that once again this was a tale of an owl hunting in daylight. A bit of reading tells me that this is more of a feature than a bug with Barred Owls, that they are perhaps the most likely of North American owls to hunt in daylight, which may help explain why their populations seem to be be expanding at the expense of Spotted Owls, whose numbers are struggling. The woods are not as bright as, say, an open meadow, but they have been, in the case of both day-hunting tales shared here, bright enough to make pretty sharp photographs of each story's protagonist.
Your 'noticer' is an excellent one; not an easy thing to achieve... May your day be kind.
Fascinating! So interesting that Barred Owls at least are adapting to daylight hunting. Thank you for the explanation!
David, my God, what a beauty that barred owl is! That gaze makes my heart pitter-patter. And makes my heart sad, too. I know these gorgeous new arrivals are displacing my beloved spotted owls, that I've devoted almost 20 years to protecting. The federal effort to kill barred owls in the PNW to give spotties a chance is really picking up steam now, and I've been working up to writing about the controversy for a long time. The problem is, I love them both, barred owls and spotted owls, and I can't see where the solution lies. Maybe there isn't one. Anyway, thanks for the reminder of all the great beauty that exists. Maybe I'll take a crack at that post.
Oh, Rebecca, I'm so pleased that this found both pitter-patter and sad in you.
I'm well aware (though perhaps not quite as aware as you), of the displacement tensions of barreds vs spotteds, and actually talked through this very issue with two women hikers who stopped to chat while this barred owl was resting between chases, maybe ten minutes after I made the portrait pictured above. It is a thorny issue.
I do understand how the barred owls population growth in an area where spotted owls were once far more prolific is a real thing, and though I am somewhat untrusting of human 'quick fixes,' I can see, perhaps, a possible advantage to trying to help the spotted owls grow their populations by 'thinning the herds' of their competitors.
That said, in areas like mine here in Seattle, I am unaware of any Spotted Owl sightings and we have far, far too many rats, moles, grey squirrels and bunnies and very few night hunters to help keep their populations under control. So if we were to create a vacuum by eliminating the barred owls around here in the hopes that spotteds will magically appear, that would be much like many other human, 'I've got a plan.' fixits, that would in fact make many things worse. History is over-full of them, including the fact that we allowed greedy corporations to slash and burn millions of acres of mature, old growth forests and replant them with monoculture plantations that were absolute anathema to wild, solitary seeking spotted owls in the first place. I don't hear anyone proposing that we get rid of the leather-brained bean-counters that helped create this tension in the first place. Do you?
So, in places where there are spotted owls known to be trying to make a living and raise their families, I'm all for putting a finger on the scales a bit to give them enough freedom from territorial pressure to actually expand their ranges. But in areas with almost no viable populations of hunter/predators of any kind, whether mammal or bird, to help control rodent populations, it would seem the absolute epitome of folly to start killing off even one of these able hunters. They are doing important work in helping maintain some eco-system balance in busier and more chaotic places spotted owls are able to thrive.
David,
I never saw barred owls hunting flickers but you most definitely did see that. Wow! We have Northern Flickers here on the Olympic Peninsula/western Washington year-round. They often gather up in small flocks in fall and winter, most likely for feeding opportunities. I believe that many of these additional birds are migrating from further north in Canada and Alaska, to spend the winters here.
What you say makes sense, my friend. Thanks.
And yes, though I didn't quite know what to make of it at first, the owl was quite definitely targeting the flickers.
PS: Flickers are more likely to feed on the ground than our other resident woodpeckers. They love ants, but will eat many insects, worms, fruits and mast. The Northern Flicker has two subspecies: Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted, along with hybrid intergrades. Red-shafted are the most common in these parts. Yellow-shafted are common back East and in Alaska/Yukon.
Great experience! Here in the Midwest the Northern Flickers will Migrate in loose flocks. They migrate away from areas with depleted food and areas that get heavier amounts of snow. I’m always excited to see a flock of flickers foraging on the ground in the fall and spring as they are moving around.
Yes, I just went on a birding walk today and we saw a lot of flickers hanging out together, definitely seems to be linked to migration.
This is a most helpful observation, Lisa. Thank you for weighing in.
Great story and photos! Walking in a protected forest in West Virginia once, I found a couple dozen bright yellow (Flicker) feathers in a clump on the leaf litter. *Something* had happened. Maybe an owl?
We only occasionally see yellow-shafted flickers out here on the West Coast. Most of ours are red, but last winter there was a hardy band of three flickers, two red-shafted and one yellow who flew around together as a pack. The Cooper's Hawk loved to match wits and skills with them and I loved to watch...
Marvelous! Their calls are more like jungle sounds than a forest bird. 🥰
I had no idea what flickers were (I’m from the UK) when I began to read this lovely piece of stalking/writing! I thought maybe they were some kind of small squirrel, but thanks to Google, I found an article from Audubon magazine with facts and photos - they are such handsome birds, a dapper collar and I love (what look like) the embossed chest spots, a bit thrush-like! We only have 3 types of woodpeckers here (Great Spotted, Lesser Spotted and Green) but I can see the family resemblance, especially to our Green Woodpecker - an ant-heap driller! I was intrigued to read that the US flicker has many local names, one of which apparently, is ‘gaffle’; our Green Woodpecker (here in the southwest of England anyway) is sometimes known with a name that rhymes, a ‘yaffle’ - it’s what they sound like, a cackling, witches laugh! Love that owl too. I so enjoy the word pictures you conjure (alongside the gorgeous photos) of places that are totally unfamiliar to me, thank you!
Wow, Liz, I've just learned several new things. Thank you.
Love your description, " it’s what they sound like, a cackling, witches laugh!"
Thank you for a lovely wander with you as you work through your very effective learning methods and for comparing and contrasting our North American Flickers with your UK woodpeckers. That was brilliant.
I'm so delighted to have fed your hungry eyes a bit and to have been a part of your learning dance. Thank you.
What a beauty Mr. Barred Owl is! (Wow, what an intelligent stare!) And hey hey for those Steller's jays shouting about the hunt---you get in on such marvy scenes by being so tuned in---new behavior noted is totes marvy, and the whole scene was dam exciting!
And so I repeat: What a beauty Mr. Barred Owl is!
"Wow, what an intelligent stare!" indeed.
May your day be full and kind, my friend. Thanks for stopping by.
Some years ago, I found a barred owl deep in a thicket because a Cooper's Hawk was making odd calls and flying around as if distressed by something. I would not have expected the accipiter to see the owl as a threat - or was it a competitor? Either way, I thanked the Cooper's!
What a wonderful glimpse! Thank you, Marian.