• Northern Flicker (red-shafted)

    Northern Flicker (red-shafted)
    Picture

    Species: Northern Flicker, red-shafted subspecies
    Most recent capture date: 3/18/2023
    ​Sex: Male

    Notes: We’re collaborating with a Stanford researcher on a genetic study of flicker hybridization, so we collect a genetic sample from every flicker before we release them. This individual doesn’t appear to be a hybrid, but sometimes birds turn out to have small genetic traces of hybridization – for example, if his great-great-grandmother was a yellow-shafted flicker, that might not show up in his plumage, but we’ll see it in his genes.