Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 21:34:48 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Hybrid Flicker in Annapolis (?) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello all, Have not been far afield birding recently, but have seen some interesting things. My third yard Whip-poor-will was calling at 5:45 on April 12 and my second American Coot was in my small pond the same day. Also in the pond have been 2 Wood Ducks, a Pied-billed Grebe, and, for the past two days, an American Bittern. My first White-eyed Vireo arrived 11 April and has been singing here ever since. My first Green Heron appeared today, as did my first House Wren. Since most of my birding has been from the car or the picture window, I didn't get my first year yard gnatcatcher until today either. Most exciting today, however, was a single flicker which showed characters of a Red-shafted x Yellow-shafted intergrade. It flew in overhead while I was screechowling and I immediately noticed that its tail feathers were rich red-orange below, though it was immediately obvious that it was too dull for a pure Red-shafted Flicker. It then flew off and I spent ten minutes chasing it in circles, but I eventually got good looks at the face and a quick shot at the underwings. The head pattern was typical of a female Yellow-shafted with a red blaze on the nape, a gray crown, and buffy face. There was no whisker mark. The underwings, when seen briefly, were orangeish. The tail had much more concentrated red color than the underwings, but both were far from the yellow color of Yellow-shafted Flickers. I have been fooled by seeing Yellow-shafted Flickers in weird light, but that was definitely not the cas in today's overcast skies. The tail feathers were a rich red-orange, though otherwise the bird looked like a Yellow-shafted though (perhaps the back barring was narrower?). If that color alone indicates hybridity, then this was an intergrade. Kenn Kaufman illustrated an article in American Birds Volume 45 #5 that I do not have in my files. If anyone has this article or any comments on intergrade flickers I would be interested to hear them. Intergrade flickers have occurred periodically in the East, with at least one (?) report from Maryland, a banded bird from Montgomery County, if memory serves. A few years back one was found dead atop the Smith Island Lighthouse at the southern tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore. Jim tells me we have another report from this winter season: a single feather found. Comments welcome. Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com ============ Marshall J. Iliff Annapolis, MD miliff@aol.com ============= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================