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. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

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.

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.

Description

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

• 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.

Back grayish brown with dark barring. Underparts off-white or buffy with numerous small black spots. Back of neck gray. Tail black above. Eye black. Feet gray.
Yellow-shafted (Eastern and Northern) form: Central shaft and undersides of wing and tail feathers bright yellow. Face and throat tan. Crown gray. Red crescent on nape of neck. Male with black mustache mark.
Red-shafted (Western) form: Central shaft and undersides of wing and tail feathers bright salmon red. Face and throat gray. Crown brown. Male with red mustache mark. Female with brown mustache mark on gray face.

Sex Differences

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

Immature

Juvenile resembles adult, but colors duller. Both sexes of juvenile yellow-shafted form have black mustache; only male Red-shafted Flickers have red mustache.

Similar Species

• Gilded Flicker very similar, has yellow wings but a gray face and red mustache.

  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."

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  Range

  Range Map
  
  
  

  © 2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

  About the map

  Summer Range

  Breeds across North America, from Alaska and northern Canada southward to Cuba and Central America. Red-shafted form breeds from southeastern Alaska through British Columbia, western North Dakota, and Colorado, southward into Mexico.

  Winter Range

  Winters from southern Canada southward.

  Habitat

  Found in open woodlands and forest edge, including cities and suburbs.

  Food

  Insects, primarily ants. Also fruits and seeds.

  Behavior

  Foraging

  Forages primarily on ground, digging in soil.

  Reproduction

  Nest Type

  Digs hole in tree, usually dead tree. Cavity unlined.

  Egg Description

  White.

  Clutch Size

  3-12 eggs.

  Condition at Hatching

  Naked and helpless.

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  Conservation Status

  Widespread and common, but populations declining.

  Other Names

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

  Sources used to construct this page:

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  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.

   
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