Northern Flicker

I accepted another position from my employer last June. The hours are better and I can pretty much set my own schedule, but the work site is on the other side of town and the walking situation isn't nearly as good. I have two choices now as to where to walk.

Brown's Woods, is a dense wooded area on the border between Des Moines and West Des Moines. There is a lot of wildlife there, but due to denseness of the woods the wildlife can be hard to see. You hear a lot of animals, but see very little. The trails there are also fairly primitive and they make no attempt to clear them. So, after we got a thick layer of ice there last December, I gave up. I might giver it another try in February after a good thaw.

My other choice is the Great Western Trail which runs through Des Moines. The area that I walk there is just south of the Des Moines Water Works which goes through the Des Moines Water Works. I normally turn around in the Water Works. I see a lot of geese during the summer and an occasional Blue Heron. Rose Breasted Grosbeaks are also common, but it is harder to get an image of them there. It is actully more road then trail, but I take what I can get This time of year I rarely see any wildlife.

Today I got lucky though and saw a Northern Flicker, it is the Yellow Shafted variant. It was so busy eating some berries, I was able to get about a half dozen images of which the following was the best.