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Cool Facts |
Photo
taken from:
The
Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America by
David Allen Sibley
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- Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like
other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the
ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find
them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.
- The red-shafted and yellow-shafted forms of the Northern Flicker
formerly were considered different species. The two forms hybridize
extensively in a wide zone from Alaska to the panhandle of Texas. A
hybrid often has some traits from each of the two forms and some traits
that are intermediate between them. The Red-shafted Flicker also
hybridizes with the Gilded Flicker, but less frequently.
- The Northern Flicker is one of the few North American woodpeckers
that is strongly migratory. Flickers in the northern parts of their
range move south for the winter, although a few individuals often stay
rather far north.
- Northern Flickers generally nest in holes in trees like other
woodpeckers. Occasionally, they’ve been found nesting in old, earthen
burrows vacated by Belted Kingfishers or Bank Swallows.
- Like most woodpeckers, Northern Flickers drum on objects as a form
of communication and territory defense. In such cases, the object is to
make as loud a noise as possible, and that’s why woodpeckers sometimes
drum on metal objects. One Northern Flicker in Wyoming could be heard
drumming on an abandoned tractor from a half-mile away.
- The oldest known “yellow-shafted” Northern Flicker lived to be at
least 9 years 2 months old, and the oldest “red-shafted” Northern
Flicker lived to be at least 8 years 9 months old.
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Description |
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Size & Shape Flickers are fairly large woodpeckers with a slim,
rounded head, slightly downcurved bill, and long, flared tail that
tapers to a point.
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Color Pattern Flickers appear brownish overall with a white rump
patch that’s conspicuous in flight and often visible when perched. The
undersides of the wing and tail feathers are bright yellow, for eastern
birds, or red, in western birds. With a closer look you’ll see the brown
plumage is richly patterned with black spots, bars, and crescents. |
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Range Map |
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Taxonomic Hierarchy |
© 2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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Kingdom: |
Animalia |
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Phylum: |
Chordata |
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Subphylum: |
Vertebrata |
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Class: |
Aves |
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Order: |
Piciformes |
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Family: |
Picidae |
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Subfamily: |
Picinae |
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Genus: |
Colaptes |
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Species: |
Colaptes auratus |
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Subspecies: |
- Colaptes auratus auratus
- Colaptes auratus cafer
- Colaptes auratus chrysocaulosus
- Colaptes auratus collaris
- Colaptes auratus gundlachi
- Colaptes auratus luteus
- Colaptes auratus mexicanoides
- Colaptes auratus mexicanus
- Colaptes auratus nanus
- Colaptes auratus rufipileus
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Sound |
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Northern Flickers make a loud, rolling rattle with a
piercing tone that rises and falls in volume several times.
The call lasts 7 or 8 seconds and is quite similar to the
call of the Pileated Woodpecker. You’ll hear it in the
spring and early summer, while pairs are forming and birds
are establishing their territories. Flickers also make a
loud single-note call, often sounding like kyeer,
about a half-second long. When birds are close together and
displaying they may make a quiet, rhythmic wick-a,
wick-a call.
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Identification and
Information
See
Anatomy
of a Bird
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Body |
- Length
Range: 32-36 cm (12.75-14 in)
- Weight:
71 g (2.5 oz)
- Size:
Medium (9 - 16 in)
- Color
Primary: Brown, Buff
- Underparts:
Buff-white with heavy black spotting and
black breast.
- Upperparts:
Brown and black bared with white rump.
- Back
Pattern: Barred or banded
- Belly
Pattern: Spotted or speckled
- Breast
Pattern: Spotted or speckled
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Head |
- Bill Shape:
Dagger, All-purpose
- Eye Color:
Dark red-brown.
- Head
Pattern: Plain, Striped, Unique pattern
- Crown Color:
Brown
- Forehead
Color: Brown
- Nape Color:
Brown
- Throat
Color: Gray
- Cere color:
No Data
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Flight |
- Flight
Pattern: Several rapid wing beats and
then a pause with wings folded atsides producing
up-and-down flight pattern.
- Wingspan
Range: 48-53 cm (19-21 in)
- Wing Shape:
Rounded-Wings
- Tail Shape:
Notched Tail
- Tail
Pattern: Barred
- Upper Tail:
Black and white.
- Under Tail:
Black and white.
- Leg Color:
Gray
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Breeding |
- Breeding Location:
Forest edge, Grassland with scattered trees
- Breeding Type:
Monogamous, Solitary nester
- Breeding Population:
- Egg Color: White
- Number of Eggs:
3 - 12
- Incubation Days:
11 - 16
- Egg Incubator:
Both sexes
- Nest Material:
Cavity lined with chips.
- Migration:
Some migrate
- Condition at Hatching: Naked,
pink skin, a sharp egg tooth at the tip of
bill; eyes closed, movements clumsy.
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Other Names |
Similar Species |
- Pic flamboyant (French)
- Carpintero alirrojo, Pic-palo lombricero
(Red-shafted Flicker) (Spanish)
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- Gilded Flicker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
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Conservation Status |
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Widespread and common, but populations declining. |
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Habitat |
Sources used to
Construct this Page: |
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Look for flickers in open habitats near trees, including woodlands,
edges, yards, and parks. In the West you can find them in mountain
forests all the way up to treeline. |
- Wiebe, Karen L. and William S. Moore. 2008. Northern
Flicker (Colaptes auratus), The Birds of North America
Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of
Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America
Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/166a
- Dunne, P. 2006. Pete Dunne’s essential field guide
companion. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
- Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988.
The birder’s handbook. Simon & Schuster Inc., New York.
- Patuxent Wildlife Research Center longevity records
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Food |
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Northern Flickers eat mainly insects, especially ants and beetles
that they gather from the ground. They also eat fruits and seeds,
especially in winter. Flickers often go after ants underground
(where the nutritious larvae live), hammering at the soil the way
other woodpeckers drill into wood. They’ve been seen breaking into
cow patties to eat insects living within. Their tongues can dart out
2 inches beyond the end of the bill to snare prey. Other
invertebrates eaten include flies, butterflies, moths, and snails.
Flickers also eat berries and seeds, especially in winter, including
poison oak and ivy, dogwood, sumac, wild cherry and grape,
bayberries, hackberries, and elderberries, and sunflower and thistle
seeds. |
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Behavior |
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Northern Flickers spend lots of time on the ground, and when in
trees they’re often perched upright on horizontal branches instead
of leaning against their tails on a trunk. They fly in an
up-and-down path using heavy flaps interspersed with glides, like
many woodpeckers. |
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