Bird #351 — Gilded Flicker

colaptes (hammer, to peck with bill) chrysoides

Saturday, March 31, 1984 — 3:40 pm

Saguaro National Monument, East Unit, Arizona

When I saw this bird, it was considered con-specific with the Northern Flicker.  When it was made a species in its own right (again) I decided it would be easier to add it here than to renumber my entire list.

My mom took my wife and me to Saguaro where she had spotted the Golden-crowned Sparrow earlier in the year.  While we were feeding cookie crumbs to the White-crowned Sparrows, the Golden-crowned, and a variety of squirrels, I spotted the Gilded Flicker.

It was perched on the side of a saguaro in the picnic area, in a hilly, rocky saguaro forest with a lot of scrub and prickly pear cactus.

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