Backyard and Beyond

Northern Flickers, passing through on their south-bound migration, will often rocket off the ground well before your approach.
A couple on the path ahead of me recently allowed me to stand still as they policed the edges for ants and, presumably, other delicacies.

There certainly are a lot of components to this species’ plumage. And, of course, when they’re on the ground we can’t see the yellow of their flashing underwings or their notable white rumps. The black malar mark extending back from the bill marks these as males.
Here’s one of the yellow shafts of their utterly distinctive tail feathers. (Western Northern Flickers have red shafts.)
One of these eventually flew right past my knees.