We’ve been lucky enough to catch the changing of the guard at this Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) nest a couple of times. Parent flies to hole, perching outside. Other parent bird flies out. First parent scoots in hole.
That black mark, the malar, on the cheek means this is the male. He spends a minute looking out before tucking deeper inside. Soon there should be some frantic shuttling of food to the nest by both adult birds.
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This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond 
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