Northern Flicker

Northern Flicker, adult male, yellow-shafted

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Northern Flicker, adult female, yellow-shafted

Northern Flicker, adult male, red-shafted

Northern Flicker, female, red-shafted

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A common ant-eating woodpecker of open areas, the Northern Flicker has two color forms found in different regions. The yellow-shafted form is common across the eastern and northern parts of North America, while the red-shafted form is the one found in the West.

Description

• Medium to large woodpecker.
• Grayish brown.
• Barred on top, spotted below.
• Black crescent on chest.
• Rump white, conspicuous in flight.
• Yellow or red patches in wings obvious in flight.

• Size: 28-31 cm (11-12 in)
• Wingspan: 42-51 cm (17-20 in)
• Weight: 110-160 g (3.88-5.65 ounces)

Sex Differences

Male with black or red mustache stripe. Female without mustache stripe, or with brown one.

Sound

Call a long series of loud "wik-wik-wik" notes. Also a softer "wik-a-wik-a-wik-a," and a strong single-note "peah."

Conservation Status

Widespread and common, but populations declining.

Other Names

Pic flamboyant (French)
Carpintero alirrojo, Pic-palo lombricero (Red-shafted Flicker) (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• 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 favorite 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, and the Gilded Flicker is considered a separate species.

• The Northern Flicker is one of the few North American woodpeckers that is strongly migratory. Flickers in the northern parts of the range move south for the winter, although a few individuals often stay rather far north.

Sources used to construct this page:

Moore, W. S. 1995. Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). In The Birds of North America, No. 166 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.