Listening to the Songs of Spring

This female Northern Flicker appears to be tilting her head to listen to the rat-a tat-tat of a nearby male pounding out his attraction call on a metal surface. Most people are used to hearing male flickers in the spring using this strange method to attract females, banging away on any kind of metal surface, but for me this was the first time to witness a female listening intently. I observed this pair this morning while birding at Brush College Park in West Salem.  This is actually the closest city park to my home in Salemtowne, but in my scattered approach for the perfect birding site it has been kind of over looked.  It jumped way up in the rating scale this morning.  Not only is it very close to home, but it was filled with birds, and on this sunny Sunday morning they we busy singing their songs of spring.