Of all the local woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker is the one I see most often.
The male flicker’s springtime hammering is intended to impress the females. His successful wooing has resulted in chicks to feed.
Among bird species there are different tactics adopted to ferry food to chicks. Some carry it to the nest in their bills, some carry it in their claws. The flicker adopts neither of these approaches. It first swallows the food, say, an insect, and then regurgitates it into the throat of a chick.
Flicker chicks jostle for position as they beg food from an adult returning to the nest.
Although the adult flicker does not appear to be carrying anything, the food has been swallowed. It looks as if a drop of regurgitated food is just appearing at the tip of its bill.
Food is regurgitated directly into the chick’s throat.
Now the adult leaves the nest again on its seemingly endless round of food gathering.
