[Tweeters] Massive Movement of Northern Flickers

[Frank Caruso via Tweeters]

In late September 2008, I was on Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine for
four days. This is a great place to see interesting fall migrants like a
Lucy’s Warbler that showed up the previous September. Although no migrants
this notable were seen during my stay there, on the final day there was a
significant movement of Northern Flickers. They were largely in groups of
7-8 and I must have observed at least eight such groups during the time
frame of 8:00-10:00 am. I had never seen such a migration of Flickers like
this anywhere on the mainland in Maine (lived there six years) or
Massachusetts (lived there 28 years). This goes along with Jim’s comments
on migrant traps and open water.

By the way, Monhegan Island is a beautiful place to visit any time
(probably not in the winter though), and spring migration is pretty
interesting there as well.

Frank Caruso, Edmonds

On Fri, Sep 6, 2024 at 3:57 PM Jim Elder via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> Carol/Stef reported a large flock of flickers on Whidbey Island and

> wondered if this was normal. Gary reported on eBird statistics and his own

> experience.

>

> Like Gary, I’ve been birding for fifty years. Unlike Gary, my Avisys

> software is still running. I can only remember and Avisys confirms seeing a

> substantial flock of flickers once which was almost exactly two years ago

> at the Northern Point Lighthouse on Brier Island, Nova Scotia. It could

> easily have been an undercount but I estimated 30 flickers. This was not

> just a heavy concentration of flickers recorded over the course of the day.

> It was very much a tight migratory flock. They were moving through the

> small spruce trees there and after several minutes the entire flock as a

> unit launched themselves out over the Bay of Fundy towards the coast of

> Maine. Incidentally there were also scads of warblers and other songbirds

> behaving similarly except they weren’t acting so cohesively as a flock.

> Even though I see flickers all the time, this was a thrilling birding

> moment. So my takeaway is that, even though it is uncommon, flickers do

> occasionally move in migratory flocks. Based on Gary’s data it is most

> likely to be observed in those migratory traps where migrants collect

> before passing over open water.  Also I can highly recommend Brier Island

> if you are ever considering witnessing a fall migration in the Canadian

> Maritimes.

>

>

>

> *Jim Elder **, Seattle, WA*

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