Evolution at work

Hi all,
This is a Northern Flicker, as most of you know, taken in my back yard, but curiously this gent,I think,is a mix of both the Eastern yellow shafted and the Western red shafted varieties. I thought it was an interesting and rare find. The yellow shafted version has the red patch at the nape with black mustache and the red shafted has the red mustache and no red patch at the nape. This guy seems to have both red markings of both varieties. His wings are of the red shafted variety. Please correct me if I'm wrong in assuming this is a blend and evolution at work

Really can't remember my settings and this one was already cropped and processed in my archives. I'm sure it was my D300 with 80-400mm VR F4.5-5.6 @400mm and possibly F6.3 or 7.1, hand held possibly at about 1/600-1/1000 sec. Think I probably cropped it down about 50%, but I'm guessing. Sorry for the vague info, but I really just wanted to post this for the curiosity factor not really for critique.

Debbie -

The Yellow-shafted and Red-shafted were originally regarded as different species, but recognized as conspecific a few years back. There is a well-known, well-recognized hybridization zone. Birds of North America says,

Yellow-shafted and Red-shafted Flickers, are now generally considered to be conspecific, owing largely to extensive hybridization where C. a. luteus and C. a. canescens come into contact (Short 1965a). This hybrid zone is one of the most familiar and best studied of any among birds. It extends in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains from the Texas panhandle to southeastern Alaska (Figs. 2, 3) but varies in width, being narrow at its southern limit, broadest in the northern Great Plains, and narrowest along the Alberta–British Columbia provincial line. (There are too few specimens to allow accurate mapping in northern British Columbia and Alaska.) The hybrid zone is at least 4000–7500 years old and probably older.

I'm not sure where you are, but I'm betting you are in the hybrid zone. Good photo, but a pretty common event.

Thanks Jim for that great information! I live in Colorado Springs, CO, so yes I am in the hybrid zone. It would be interesting to see the different combinations that have become hybrids. BTW, I just got to visit, for the first time, your beautiful state. I was in several areas over 16 days traveling by car. My favorite place was Homer of all the towns I visited. So much amazing wildlife and scenery. One of these days I will go back in the winter to see the Northern lights. Anyway, thanks again. Blessings, Deb

My understanding (third-hand from a flicker expert) is that flickers are the "Mr. Potato Head" of birds, where the hybrid/intergrades can have virtually any mix-and-match expression of Red-shafted/Yellow-shafted traits.

Looks like the guy that keep pecking at the side of my house!