Chirps and Cheeps

I recently bought a little one person hunting blind (I call it my photo dome).  I've used it only a couple of times now and I'm so pleased at how close I can get to our bird friends without them having a clue that I'm in there. It's really quite amazing.

Today, after I finished a rather intense work day, I treated myself by pulling out my photo dome and set out to photograph what I could.

I was happy to see a little White-throated Sparrow up close - and got some nice shots of him (her?).  I was hoping a White-crowned would come by, but no such luck.

After awhile, though, I casually looked out the back flap of the dome - and spotted a Northern Flicker (yellow shafted) poking around in the grass!  I've been DYING to get a good shot of one of these beauties.  So quickly re-positioning myself, I started shooting. Soon, she took off and landed on the trunk of a nearby tree - and to my surprise, there was a male flicker there.  They tussled a bit - I think they may have mated - and then they separated further apart on the tree, and shortly after that, they each flew off in different directions.  Wow! I'm so glad I happened to look out that back window of my photo dome!

FYI: did you know that Northern Flickers are members of the woodpecker family and can often be heard drumming to attract a mate (sometimes on the metal flue of a fireplace)? There are 2 races: the yellow-shafted and red-shafted. And the yellow-shafted, which you see here, is the state bird of Alabama.