Beautiful Juvenile Flicker

   My job is changing. My duties are evolving. I am spending more time in my office, at my desk. I saw a beautiful juvenile "Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker" (Colaptes auratus) dipping into the fresh water of our birdbath. I did not have a camera, but this photo is a good representation of what I saw.

Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker

   The "yellow-shafted" version of the Northern Flicker found in the eastern United States has feathers with yellow shafts. It also has a black molar patch on its cheek. The "red shafted" version found in the western U.S. has a red patch. I got a real long close-up view of this beautiful woodpecker. It made my day.

Robert

photo courtesy of epeterson

Birding Trip to Helena, Arkansas

   We made a picnic lunch and drove the "Bird Mobile" south through northern Mississippi to the Tunica Museum with its various historical exhibits. We birded the abandoned Capri casino and Mhoon Landing sites. Then we drove across the bridge to the little town of Helena, Arkansas. We had lunch in the wooded Confederate Cemetery on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. Lunch was cold fried chicken and grapes with San Pellegrino.

   Then we made our way north on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River. We found a small ox-bow lake named Cow Bayou where we deployed our spotting scope and peered through the trees. Then it was home again through West Memphis, Arkansas. The cool October wind had left us very wind-blown and tired.

Great Egret

   Here is a list of the birds we saw today :

• Carolina Chickadee
  
• American Robin
  
• Great Egret
  
• Great Blue Heron
  
• Bank Swallow
  
• Canada Goose
  
• Northern Mockingbird
  
• Killdeer
  
• Turkey Vulture
  
• Northern Flicker
  
• Common Ground Dove
  
• English Sparrow
  

Robert

photo courtesy of cmayfield