Since it was only in my last post that I mentioned it, I´m sure you remember that the Cuban Pygmy Owl is so small that it actually likes to seek shelter in abandoned woodpecker holes.
Which is why I felt compelled to paint a Northern Flicker – that, and I really wanted to use some of my lovely yellow paints. 😉
The Northern Flicker – yellowhammer, clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho (this is definitely my favorite! 😉 ), wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird as it is also often called – is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate.
Their breeding habitat consists of forested areas across North America and as far south as Central America.
As well as eating ants, flickers exhibit a behavior known as anting, in which they use the formic acid from the ants to assist in preening, as it is useful in keeping them free of parasites.
My watercolor painting shows you a yellow-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus auratus) – Colaptes comes from the Greek verb colapt, meaning “to peck”; auratus is from the Latin root aurat, meaning “gold” or “golden”, and refers to the bird’s underwing.
Do you see many flickers in the area you live? Let me know what you think about them in your comments! (noisy, beautiful, a real nightmare… 😉
You are so talented my dear friend! This painting is stunning Sarah…I’ve not seen this bird but I can imagine looking at your painting. The yellows are beautiful!
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Thank you very much, Divya! 😄💕 What kind of birds do you see where you live? xoxo
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Awesome. It’s amazing how they use ants like that.
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Isn’t it? Pretty AND clever birds! 😊
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Oooh! beautiful! Since I missed this, am glad you linked it in your latest post!
Such lovely vibrant yellows! (is this with your new set of paints?)
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Thank you so much, Ju-Lyn! And you’re spot on – this was painted with my new set of colours! 😉
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Awe – Such a lovely bird. Like the mix of patterns and colours. Beautifully done Sarah!
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Thank you so much, Dominique! 🙂 xoxo
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Nicely executed. I have these woodpeckers in my garden and they are magical.
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Thank you very much! It must be lovely to see them in your garden and to enjoy their beauty. 😊
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Yes, each season a variety of birds appear, including different woodpeckers. Winter brings, for example, yellow bellied sapsuckers, which are dressed in seasonal coat. Of course, I do have year round ones that graze and entertain.
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In winter I have ‘only’ titmouse and blue tits to attend to but they’re very sweet and I can watch them for hours. 😊
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Beautiful painting we don’t see these in our area.
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Thanks so much, Diane! 🙂
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What a lovely painting, Sarah! I love the golden hues. We have woodpeckers here, but I honestly don’t know if they’re Northern Flickers. 🙂 Have a wonderful week, my friend…🦅🦆🐦🕊❤
p.s. I couldn’t find a woodpecker emoji. 🙂
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Thanks so much, Lauren! Northern Flicker or not, any kind of woodpecker is wonderful to watch and listen to! 🙂
Have an awesome and beautiful week, dear friend! Love&hugs! xoxo 💕
P.S. If I knew how to program emojis I would be creating a woodpecker one now! 😀 😉
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What a beautiful bird and you captured it beautifully. I don’t think I have ever seen or heard of a Flicker, but I will be on the watch for them now that I know what they look like – thank you Miss Dragonfly!
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Thank you very much for your lovely comment, Joan! And I will keep my fingers crossed that you will soon see one those flickers in real life! Have a wonderful day!
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There is such glorious beauty in birds , Sarah, and your art depicts them so vibrantly. You are so talented! I feed birds in my backyard, my favorite ones are the cardinals. They take my breath away. Did you know there are yellow cardinals also? I recently discovered that on the Web. Have a super week, xoxo!
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Thank you so much, Lana! I know pictures of the cardinals but sadly we don’t have any of them here in Europe (only the clergy type who really don’t look nearly as pretty 😉). And I didn’t know there were yellow ones as well! Will go and look out for them on Google!
Hope everything is fine and wish you a wonderful and creative week! Much love! xoxo ❤
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Wow! Sarah, what a wonderful painting of the Northern Flicker – I have no idea how you can catch it mid-hover. The wings and tail are a glorious golden colour, with a vibrant sheen to them. Oh, how I wish I could see one in real life – how could these be a nuisance! I’ve seen other woodpeckers in real life and always marvel at them, a joy to behold!
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Thank you so much, Annika! I know, I can hardly believe it myself but there are people out there who feel annoyed by woodpeckers – luckily no one of our WP family though it seems. 😉 Just imagining the force they put behind their pecks makes my head hurt! 😂 Nature never fails to amaze me. 😊
Have a lovely day, dear friend! Hugs&love! xoxo
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Never saw it before, but beautiful indeed. As the paint again too 🙂
Big hug! XxX
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Thanks a lot, Patty! Have a great week! Big hug! xxx
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We don’t have any flickers here, that I know of. It’s too bad, after seeing your colorful photo, it makes me wish they would visit. Very nice!
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Thank you very much, Chris! We don’t have them either but I’m planning to look out for them when I finally make it across the ocean – though that might take a couple of years 😉
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It’s a long swim! 🏊♂️
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😁
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I just love listening to birds in my woods, and I hear woodpeckers, but rarely see them. Beautiful painting, Sarah. I love your description of the bird too. 🙂
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Thanks so much, Diana! Here in the middle of Berlin there aren’t any woodpeckers but luckily plenty of small songbirds that I enjoy feeding and listening to. ☺
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This is lovely! We don’t have these over in the UK (as far as I know!)
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Thanks so much! 😃💕
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You’re welcome! 😊 ❤
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It is cute! I do not think they are around my area.
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Thank you very much! 😄
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Lovely painting Sarah; you are so talented! We don’t have such birds here, so it is great to learn so much about them from your post. Wishing you a great weekend xxxx 🙂
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Thanks so much, Su! But you’ve got lovely kiwis!! 😉 Have a great weekend too! xxxxx
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😀 kiwis are nocturnal, so hardly anyone has ever seen them.
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Damn! Should have known it! 😂
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Only NZers could choose a flightless, nocturnal bird that few have seen as a national icon 😂😂 Hope you are having a good weekend. xxxx
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LOL! Don’t be too harsh with yourself, it’s such a sweet and special bird and I would have chosen it for the national bird as well. Also trying to get out of people’s way might actually be a good thing for the bird in terms of preservation!
Weekend is busy with painting!! 😊 Hugs! xxxxx
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I’m so glad you are busy painting. The work you have posted is so beautiful. I think if I’d been choosing a national bird, it would have been a tui — colourful, funny, with a lovely song, and it can fly 🙂 http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/tui xxxxxx
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Thank you so much, Su!
Just had a look at your tui – it´s beautiful! Really love its subtle tones of emerald green, russet and blue. Read that they are one of the main pollinators for fruit trees which makes them even more awesome! Maybe I´ll paint one for you 😉 xxxxxx
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Wow; that would be amazing. In an ideal world of course, you could paint from life. We have a pair of tui that live in the trees in our backyard. 🙂
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Painting from life is so much more difficult! Those damn birds can’t stand still – lol! 😂 Maybe you could take a picture of your tuis and send me?? That would be a portrait of ones you personally know! 😊 xxxxx
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Hehe. They’ve been a bit camera-shy so far. Or maybe I’m not patient enough 😀
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Don’t worry – I’ve found a couple of lovely photos online. Now you only need to patiently wait for my painting – lol! 😁 Promise it won’t take as long as the 3 alpacas 😉😂
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I am very happy to wait, especially as I know you have other projects (which I’m also excited about). 😀 xxxxx
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This is such a beautiful bird and well painted, Sarah. Love the golden glow but they don’t live in Southern California – darn!
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Thank you so much, Shari! 😄
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What a gorgeous watercolour, Sarah. This bird is so beautiful! I’m not familiar with it, sorry. I’m not good at telling woodpeckers apart.
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Thank you so much, Dina! They only live in North America so it’s definitely not your fault. 😊 💕
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Sarah, I love your Northern Flicker although we haven’t got it here. There are other dramatic and bigger woodpeckers but none this golden and sunny.
Wow, you do some fantastic watercolours.
Miriam
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Thank you very much, Miriam! We don’t have them either but I kind of fell with those beautiful golden feathers when I saw a picture and knew I had to give it a try. 😊 Have a lovely evening and a beautiful weekend! 💜
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Beautiful, Sarah. We have so many woodpeckers that I don’t know if I have heard or seen the Northern Flicker. Lovely colors.
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Thank you so much, Kerry! I’m sure at least one of your woodpeckers is a northern flicker, they seem to be quite widespread. Next time you hear one grab some binoculars. 😉 Have a very lovely day! xxx
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Very pretty!
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Thank you, Elisabeth!
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Wonderful water color! Yes, we do have Flickers in our area. Next time I see one, I’ll think of you.😀
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Thank you very much, Jill! Say hello from me to the next woodpecker you see! 😊❤
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Your Northern flicker is so lovely! Yes, we get a lot of woodpeckers here, and the larger Flicker loves to tap on my window, and eat all the suet in our feeder. 🙂
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Thanks so much, Pam! And it makes me smile that your flickers try to get your attention by telling on your window before they tuck in. A bit like ‘hey you, thanks for all the suet, really appreciate it!’ 😄
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Great water colour of the Northern flicker! We have them also visit our bird feeder. In contrast to the many other species of birds they are extremely wary and fly off at the slightest movement.
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Thank you very much, Peter! It’s interesting to know that they’re rather wary.
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