The speed in flight of the red-shafted flicker has been recorded as from 25 to 27 miles an hour, as measured with the speedometer of an automobile.
Grinnell and Storer (1924) write of its habits:
The tramper in almost any part of the Yosemite region can hardly fail to at least hear one or more Red-shafted Flickers in a half-day’s circuit. Although these birds are never seen in true flocks, he may flush from favorable places as many as 6 of them within a few yards. This is particularly true on the floor of Yosemite Valley during the autumn months. This omnivorous woodpecker then almost completely forsakes the timber and forages in the brush patches, eating berries of various sorts, especially cascara; it often seeks the open meadows where it gathers ants and grasshoppers.
The birds flush one or two at a time, often not until the observer is almost upon them; then the sudden flapping of broad pinkish-red wings, the view of the white rump patch fully displayed, leave no doubt in the observer’s mind as to the identity. A bird seldom flies far before alighting, not against an upright tree trunk as with most other woodpeckers, but perching on a branch, to bow deeply this way and that and perhaps utter its explosive claip.
Voice.—The notes of the red-shafted flicker are almost identical with those of the northern flicker, though George F. Simmons (1925) evidently thinks that the voice is “much coarser, rougher, and heavier, * * * easily distinguished when the two are heard calling near each other.”
Field marks.—The white rump is the most conspicuous recognition mark for both species, and the color pattern is similar for both, but the flashing colors in the wings and tail, as well as the other contrasting colors, will serve to distinguish the red-shafted from the yellow-shafted species.
Winter.—During the winter that I spent in Pasadena, flickers were common or abundant all winter in an arroyo on the outskirts of the city. I could always find them picking up food among the dry leaves on the ground, or flying about among the large sycamores and live oaks. On a bright, sunny morning, after a frosty night, they could be seen perched in the topmost branches of the tallest trees, which were the first to catch the warmth of the rising sun. On February 14, 1929, I saw two males perched close together facing each other, bowing and nodding, or bobbing up and down, as if beginning to feel the urge of spring.
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Western North America south to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Breeding range.—The red-shafted flicker breeds north to southeastern Alaska (Sitka and Portage Cove); central British Columbia (158-mile House and Horse Lake); west-central Alberta (Jasper House); southern Saskatchewan (Cypress Hills); and North Dakota (Fort Union, Oakdale, and Fort Clark). East to central North Dakota (Fort Clark); South Dakota (Reliance and Yankton); northwestern Nebraska (Chadron); Colorado (Fort Morgan, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Beulah); extreme western Oklahoma (Kenton); central New Mexico (Santa Fe, Cloudcroft, and Mesilla); western Chihuahua (San Luis Mountains and Pinos Altos); Durango (Rio Sestin, Arroyo del Buey, and Durango City); Tamaulipas (Ciudad Victoria); Hilaygo (Real del Monte); Vera Cruz (Jalapa and Orizaba); and eastern Oaxaca (Villa Alta and Totontepec). South to Oaxaca (Totontepec); Guerrero (Omilteme); and Jalisco (Zapotlan and Volcan de Colima). From this southwestern point the species ranges north through the mountains of western Mexico, including northern Baja California and (formerly) Guadalupe Island, California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, to southeastern Alaska (Sitka).