Northern Flicker

While taking a break from cleaning and tidying, which becomes a daily chore while the house is on the market, we had flocks of little birds in our back garden, flitting all over the place and giving the dog whiplash, as she followed their flights. Out the front we had a flock of robins, picking through the grass. It was like being in the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Birds". And then out on our back deck on the rail were two of the most gorgeous birds I have ever seen. They were first time visitors to our garden in the ten years we have been here and we were fascinated with them. I went through Google, trying to identify them and I found a photo. Aren't they the prettiest things? Their name is the Northern Flicker and they belong to the woodpecker family. These ones had the prettiest wing feathers when they flew away. Pretty red in colour. Apparently, the eastern version of these same birds have a yellow under wing colour, while western birds have the red.
We have a resident woodpecker living around here, but he is not that pretty. These are the showcase variety. Unless we can find a new place with lots of trees, we are going to miss all the little birds chirping and singing in our garden.