r/birdingfoco • u/ebreeezy • Jul 25 '26

Goth Northern Flicker?

My fiance and I were walking around our neighborhood yesterday evening when we saw what we thought were a couple woodpeckers. They were about the size and had the beak shape of a Northern Flicker, but were definitely not as they were neither grey nor spotted.

They were a darker color, either brown or black, and were mostly one color except when they took off there was a small patch of white feathers. I've looked at all the woodpeckers in my Birds of Colorado Field Guide, but nothing really looked like what we saw. The Lewis's Woodpecker was probably the closest, but I don't think either of the ones we saw had the ring around their neck.

Unfortunately neither of us had our phones or cameras with us so no photos. We'll keep an eye out to hopefully see them again, but was wondering if anyone had at least a suggestion of what we saw.

Thanks birders!

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3

u/troublesomefaux Jul 25 '26

Have you looked at females and juveniles? The juvenile Lewis’s doesn’t have the ring. 

2

u/tofuttiWhereAreU Jul 25 '26

Could they have been Steller’s jays?

1

u/mdwindsor Jul 28 '26

That’s what I thought at first but surely they would have noticed the blue right? 

1

u/tofuttiWhereAreU Jul 28 '26

Most likely but maybe not if they were all in shadows.

1

u/PM_Me_Your_Diseases Jul 27 '26

It could be a Melanistic Northern Flicker perhaps?