Thursday, August 8, 2013

A Flicker Of Hope



Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all.  ~Emily Dickinson

When we first moved into this house over 25 years ago, we had Flickers. They would come to our driveway and dig in the ant hills for a tasty meal.  Flickers are woodpeckers, and they are the only ones that eat on the ground, not under the bark of trees. They can also live for up to 8 years! After a year or two, they left our driveway. It has been over 15 years since I have seen any here, then I spotted this one in our driveway again! I had totally lost hope. You can see the red V on the back of the neck and the black mustache on the chest. This one was digging in the dirt for insects, and he finally found something; his whole beak is under the ground! Welcome back, my friend!

“…get help from the God of Jacob, put your hope in God and know real blessing! God made sky and soil, sea and all the fish in it. He always does what he says…”
Psalm 146

25 comments:

Ruth Hiebert said...

I always enjoy the visits by these beautiful birds. You captured lovely pictures of him.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Glad to know your Flickers are back and great shots of them.

RoeH said...

Never heard of them. They're adorable!

Tamago said...

What a nice surprise! I love to see birds and wild creatures around trot he house. The V on the back of neck and mustache are adorable! I don't think I've seen Flickers. What a beauty :-)

Anonymous said...

they are beautiful birds and fun to watch! That gold cat is amazing! What a traffic stopper! I wonder why the Flickers were gone so long and now came back, I suppose we should just be glad they are back

MadSnapper said...

this is odd but not in our case. ours have been gone also and the past two days, we have seen one in the front yard several times... great shots and i am glad she came back to you.... we have been in our house 24 years Oct 12 this year.

Arti said...

Wow! This bird is totally new for me, I enjoyed seeing its red V and black mustache! So glad you got to see him again, may you see many more! Beautiful post, Ginny!

Marie said...

I'm so excited for you! I didn't know this about the Flickers. I will always remember them by the red V. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Cheryl @ TFD said...

Don't you just love surprises like this! He's a pretty bird. I haven't seen one in our yard for quite some time now. It probably shouldn't be too surprising since we've got all these cats (for now) roaming around this year! Beautiful shots!

Linda said...

I absolutely love birds, Ginny. This one is adorable. Love your photos.

Chatty Crone said...

I enjoyed that quote by Emily. And so those are Flickers? I don't think I have ever seen or heard of them Ginny. Have a good weekend.

S. Etole said...

They have such a variety of colors and patterns. Hope to see some here this fall.

LC said...

Love these photos and the fact you enjoyed a return visit. Wish I could experience a similar return visit from indigo buntings and red-headed woodpeckers of three decades ago. Oh, and a repeat of a memorable one-time visit from a painted bunting.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

The Northern Flickers are gorgeous woodpeckers. They do come to our feeders --and I have gotten some good photos of them... Glad they visited you. You got some great photos also.

Thanks for my card... SO pretty...
Hugs,
Betsy

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

How cool that it has returned after such a long time! Ok for mad libs you ask people to give you words. .. verb, noun, etc. Them you use those to full in the blanks and read the story out loud. It's always very silly and fun.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I don't think I have ever seen one of those- very pretty.

Ann said...

I've never seen one of these before, it's pretty. What a treat to welcome them back to your driveway

Rose said...

Wonderful shots...really love the flicker in the header!

SquirrelQueen said...

I love Flickers, they are beautiful birds. When we first moved here they would be in our backyard every year. I really enjoyed watching them. I rarely see one now but that could be because of my cat population. Smart birds!

Filip and Kristel said...

I thought it was a site to share pictures but this is a lot better.

Greetings,
Filip

pembrokeshire lass said...

I've never seen or heard of these before. Aren't they unusual? Isn't our God so good to give us such variety in our lives?! Joan

Unknown said...

I love it when something so special like this happens. Thanks for capturing the beauty of your flicker for us to enjoy too Ginny!

Shug said...

Very interesting...I've never heard of this kind of woodpecker. Beautiful bird. I really like your header. such a wonderful photo...
Hope you have a blessed Sunday

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginny, Well, you know I cheered when I saw your pictures and read your post! So glad for you! Flickers are just stupendous birds! Have a great Tuesday tomorrow!

Dee said...

They are beautiful and interesting birds. Good thing they eat out of the ground...they could do a lot of damage with that beak.

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