There mornings are brilliant but a chilly -28°. The afternoons warm to about -3. These are fantastic days when spring is trying to bust through.
This male Northern Flicker knows the score. He is banging on the top of the pole getting the metal parts singing with vibration. He is a real show off, securing the first of the sunshine, trying to attract a mate.
When I was a kid we used to have a Flicker that rapped on our metal chimney cap. It made a heck of a racket throughout the house.
To all of our delight my father used to sing:
The woodpecker pecked
on the school house door.
He pecked and he pecked
till his pecker was sore.
Palliser Pass 
Anonymous
Oh god, I forget these ‘dadisms’ until you mention them here, and then they take me back to simpler, happy times. Thank you! Thanks also for the gorgeous photos…they bring me great joy.
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Jim R
A clever daddy diddy.
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mountaincoward
I thought that was a woodpecker – quite like ours but less colourful (for a change – most of our birds are very dowdy compared to the rest of the world). I get one on my feeder in my front garden pretty regularly but have never managed to get a well zoomed shot of it unfortunately. Love the rhyme!
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underswansea
Hi Carol, a Flicker is also a woodpecker. It is called a Flicker because of the bright orange under it’s wings that seems to ‘flicker’ when it flies. Take care. Bob
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