My Mom recently sent me my childhood copy of The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds. Inside the back cover, “Dustin Urban” is penciled in my hesitant, 6-year-old lettering. I have memories from my toddler years of approaching birds at the feeder in our Maine yard. I would spend what seemed like 15 minutes or so creeping toward these birds, hoping they might perch on my hand or let me touch them if I moved slowly enough. My Mom also tells me that I would stand outside, holding the Audubon guide open skyward, hoping the fine glossy pictures might attract curious birds. I loved that guide and have recently been using it for the first time in a decade or more.
I have begun to identify a small number of local birds. Yesterday I spotted what I now know was a Common Flicker of the western variety, I think it was male. As you can see from this picture, the Flicker has a red patch on its throat, the guide calls it a “mustache.” The Audubon Guide also provides this interesting fact about the bird: “They are the only woodpeckers in North America that commonly feed on the ground, searching for ants and beetle larvae on lawns or even sidewalks.” Interestingly enough that is exactly where I spotted this one; on a lawn next to a stop sign in town, pecking holes in the dirt.
