red-shafted flicker

Sunday I took a walk south of my place to Queens Park. On the way I noticed a flicker making a determined effort at getting at an ant colony, it lunch for the day, or snack! The Red-shafted Flicker is native to western North America while its related cousin, the Yellow-shafted Flicker is native to the eastern half of the continent. The call is the same and very distinctive. The rock you see in the photo was crawling with ants which the bird was busily eating at leisure! The weather was sunny and warm. - V