Northern Flicker

The Northern Flicker is a large, distinctively patterned woodpecker that spends much of its time foraging on the ground rather than clinging to tree trunks like most of its relatives. It has a brown, black-barred back, a spotted buffy-white breast, and a bold black crescent-shaped bib across the upper chest.

Two well-known color forms occur across North America: the "Yellow-shafted" form of the east, with yellow underwings and tail linings and a red crescent on the nape, and the "Red-shafted" form of the west, with salmon-pink underwings and tail linings and no nape crescent; males of both forms show a colored mustache stripe (black in Yellow-shafted, red in Red-shafted) absent in females. In flight, a conspicuous white rump patch flashes clearly.

Once considered separate species, the two forms interbreed extensively where their ranges meet on the Great Plains, producing a range of intermediate types, and are now classified together as a single species.

Key Field Marks

• Brown, black-barred back; spotted buffy underparts with a bold black chest crescent
• Bright white rump patch, conspicuous in flight
• Yellow (eastern) or salmon-pink (western) flight-feather shafts and underwing color
• Males show a mustache stripe (black or red depending on form); females lack it
• Frequently forages on the ground, hopping and probing for ants

Similar Species

• Pileated Woodpecker is much larger with a solid black body and a prominent red crest, unlike the flicker's brown, barred plumage.
• Red-headed Woodpecker has a solid crimson head and bold black-and-white body pattern very different from the flicker's cryptic brown plumage.
• The flicker's ground-foraging habit and flashing white rump in flight are distinctive among North American woodpeckers.

Northern Flickers are found across nearly all of North America, from Alaska and Canada south through the United States into Mexico and parts of Central America, favoring open woodlands, forest edges, parks, farmland, and suburban yards with scattered trees and open ground for foraging.

Northern and eastern populations are migratory, moving south for winter, while many western and southern populations are largely resident.

Behavior

Unlike most woodpeckers, flickers spend considerable time foraging on the ground, hopping across lawns and open areas probing for ants. They also forage on trunks and branches like typical woodpeckers and undertake diurnal migratory flights in loose flocks.

Voice

The song is a long, loud, rolling "wick-wick-wick-wick," and the call is a single sharp "klee-yer." Like other woodpeckers, both sexes drum on resonant surfaces, including metal objects around houses, to proclaim territory.

Feeding

Ants are the primary food, often gathered by probing anthills and lapping up ants with a long, sticky tongue; beetles and other insects, along with berries and seeds, particularly in winter, round out the diet.

Nesting & Breeding

Both parents excavate a nest cavity in a dead tree, utility pole, or occasionally a nest box, laying 5-8 eggs. Both sexes share incubation and feeding duties, and flickers will readily use appropriately sized nest boxes where natural cavities are scarce.