11 Responses to a visitor

1. Panayoti Kelaidis says:

   February 21, 2013 at 8:10 pm

   Love the snow falling in time to the tapping (almost)–so synaesthetic! I’m not so fond of flickers when they wake me up early on summer mornings, banging on my house…
   • paridevita says:

     February 22, 2013 at 8:30 am

     They’re marking territory, in most cases. What they really like to do is tear up plants in the rock gardens, looking for ants. I think the suet here has insects and berries in it. That’s a job I could do, insect-mixer.
2. Cliff Booker says:

   February 22, 2013 at 12:36 am

   Enchanting … not a species seen in British, so this video is even more interesting for us. (Although the enthusiasts will now declare that there are trillions of them in their local woods)!!!
   • Cliff Booker says:

     February 22, 2013 at 12:38 am

     That should, of course, have read ‘not a species seen in Britain’ … I altered the sentence, but neglected to inform my brain.
     • paridevita says:

       February 22, 2013 at 8:27 am

       I can alter the sentences as well. Possibly not the most desirable ability.
       I’ve neglected to inform my brain of so many things, I’m in for a surprise one of these days.
       This is a male; they mark their territory by drilling, into wood, but also on metal, so during territory-marking season the whole neighborhood wakes up to the sounds of flickers drilling.
       Surprisingly large birds. We have a little woodpecker, the downy, too. The flicker eats ants, which can be not so good for the rock garden, since they prod the ground for them, and not so good for spreading of cyclamen seed. I lost Convolvulus assyricus and Catananche caespitosa to ants in the last couple of years; where were the flickers when I needed them?
3. Pam says:

   February 22, 2013 at 6:52 am

   These gorgeous birds do a number on my cedar siding. Still…I feed them too.
   • paridevita says:

     February 22, 2013 at 8:19 am

     In the garden, too, if you have ants.
4. carol says:

   February 22, 2013 at 12:27 pm

   visiting my mother in Illinois this week, she too has a flicker coming by breakfasting on her suet along with several other birds. a cardinal stands guard under the feeder for the nut droppings. so enjoyable !
   • paridevita says:

     February 22, 2013 at 12:46 pm

     I wonder if the males there have the red under their chin. That’s supposed to be diagnostic for the western variety, red-shafted.
     I want cardinals here, especially if they do useful things.
5. Tangly Cottage says:

   January 16, 2014 at 7:30 pm

   My favourite bird. I had more of them when I lived to the west, by the woods behind the boatyard than I do in my new more open garden.
   • paridevita says:

     January 16, 2014 at 8:00 pm

     I like them too. Surprisingly, there have been two or three here this winter, instead of one. I understood they were pretty territorial.

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