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Northern Flicker

The Northern Flicker is a common woodpecker found in North America.

Northern Flicker

Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus

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Description:

They come in two different colors--the Yellow Shafted Flicker is found in the northern and eastern regions, while the Red Shafted Flicker is found in the West. This is a medium to large bird, 11-12 inches tall, with a wingspan of 17 to 20 inches. They weigh between 3.88 and 5.65 ounces.

The color of Northern Flickers is grayish-brown with a black crescent shape on the chest. They are barred on top and spotted down below. The yellow or red wing is easy to see in flight. The male bird has a red or black mustache stripe while the female either has none at all or a brown one.

Diet:

Northern Flickers are one of very few woodpeckers that find their food on the ground-- in this case, they eat ants. They will also consider eating seeds and fruits if necessary. They love to eat ants, which are their favorite food and would rather find their food on the ground, and while they will eat fruits or seeds in a pinch, the Flicker is rarely seen feeding at bird feeders. They dig the ants out of the dirt and lap them up with their long tongues.

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Northern Flickers interesting to watch feed on the ground. Unfortunately not everyone gets to see them. If you are fortunate enough to see them in your yard please tell us about them.

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What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Woodpecker?  starstarstarstarstar
this picture was taken in central Pennsylvania in the Spring of this year. The beak and breast markings lead me to think woodpecker family. I observed ...

different bird  starstarstarstarstar
The bird has black dots on the belly and black stripes on the back it also has a red triangle on the back of the head.

Comment

This bird is a Northern ...

I hate flickers  starstarstarstarstar
These fricken flickers are killing all the trees around my cottage by eating the bottom of the trees I'm desperate. Help.

Flicker Comparison Photos  starstarstarstarstar
Thanks to Fred in Ohio for his great photo of a Yellow-shafted Flicker. I thought I would combine his photo with my photos of the Red-shafted Flicker ...

More on Flickers!  starstarstarstarstar
I love our Flicker guests. We live near Seattle, WA and have red-shafted flickers year round. They love our suet cakes and even hang onto the hanging feeder ...

Confused about Flickers  starstarstarstarstar
We are trying to figure out what some bird visitors are in our yard. Have found pictures - some say Yellow Hammer and some say Northern Flicker. We are ...

A Pair of Northern Flickers  starstarstarstarstar
A pair of Northern Flickers have visited my bird feeders several times in the 30 days.

I now plan to build a house for them.

Rescuing Baby Flicker Bird  starstarstarstarstar
A juvenile northern flicker showed up at our suet feeder about 3 weeks ago. He flopped around for 3 days and was unable to get airborne.

As a retired ...

Northern Flicker on shepherds hook  starstarstarstarstar
I have been taking pictures but I am in no way a professional, the picture I posted before was a good one, but they were not on the feeder, I had to go ...

Flicker in the Owls' House  Not rated yet
Last year we put up a lovely wooden house, sized to fit a Western Screech Owl (of which we have many), up in the Sequoia in our back yard. Last spring ...

Surprised by these beauties  Not rated yet
We recently realized just what an ant "problem" we have in a particular area of our front yard. Today, my daughter calls me to see two birds we have seen ...

little flickers  Not rated yet
I have a nesting pair in my house and I can't get rid of them. They have laid 6 eggs and running them off now does not seem right. Does any one know how ...

Yellow-Shafted Flicker Working Out a Nest In Maple Tree  Not rated yet
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a knocking sound grabbing my attention was from a Yellow-Shafted Flicker working out his nest in a dead branch ...

Two Flickers In My Yard  Not rated yet
I have two in my yard. I've been watching them for a week now. They are digging up what appear to be grubs since they are rather good size and white.No ...

Northern Flicker at feeder  Not rated yet
I have been taking pictures out the window when I saw a huge bird land on the shepherds hook. The suet cake feeder is on the shepherds hook, I got this ...

Yellow Shafted Flicker  Not rated yet
Susan I have these pictures that i thought was a Northern Flicker. Hey thanks for helping me.

Comment
Fred, he is a Northern Flicker - the Yellow-...

Northern Flicker in Huntsville Ontario Canada  Not rated yet
Here is my picture of a Northern Flicker, well I have
many. They hang out on my lawn from spring to fall,
we have a sandy soil and lots of ants to attract ...

Working hard to get the Flickers to stay  Not rated yet
We moved to Colorado Springs and have worked hard to encourage birds to visit us. To our suprise we had some male Northern Flickers show up one day this ...

Yes, Flickers love suet!  Not rated yet
We live in Western Washington and have flickers around all year. I love them. This is a photo of a male flicker at our suet cake the day before Thanksgiving....

Flickers in our Tree!  Not rated yet
We live in eastern Washington and are having unusual Thanksgiving weather. We have had snow on and off for 6 days now with about 6-8 inches on the ground....

Two Pair in locust tree posturing/challenging each other on different branches.   Not rated yet
My lady friend and I witnessed 2 pairs of Northern Flickers on separate branches.

They were bobbing up and down and advancing toward each other aggressively....

Northern Flicker  Not rated yet
I love the Northern Flicker
they are in our yard all the
time, they love ants and we
have alot of them. So I'm
glad they hang out here!!!


Comment ...

In the Early Morning  Not rated yet
I was sitting down at breakfast when my dad said look at this bird. We're bird lovers so we always keep an eye out. We saw the bird but had no idea what ...

The Trio Treat  Not rated yet
About an hour prior to sunset and I heard some unusual peep like sounds on the gravel drive in front of my home. There were 3 flickers. Their behavior ...

New Visitor to our yard  Not rated yet
A pair of Yellow Shafted Flickers showed up on the lawn this morning. A couple of hours later I spotted one of them in the front yard on the sidewalk. He(...

Woodpecker moved in without my say.  Not rated yet
A Northern Flicker (or a pair of them?) has moved into my house. He or she had pecked away at my siding to make a hole in it and has removed the insulation ...

Help With Woodpeckers!  Not rated yet
THE YELLOWHAMMER HAS BEEN A DEVIL TO MY LAKE HOUSE. IT DESTROYS THE "DRYVIT" EXTERIOR COATING OF THE HOUSE AND PECKS A HUGE HOLE IN THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE ...

THE RESCUE  Not rated yet
TODAY A BEAUTIFUL NORTHERN FLICKER FLEW INTO MY WINDOW AND FELL IN THE BUSHES IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. I HAD TO RESCUE IT FROM IN BETWEEN THE BRANCHES OF ...

Mount Vernon Northern Flickers  Not rated yet
We have bird feeders hanging in our plum tree outside our kitchen window. We have a variety of birds who come to feed, but were delighted to see a couple ...

Nesting Habits:

Flickers make their nests in dead trees by digging a hole. Thedifferent colored Flickers do breed with one another so you might see an offspring that has varying degrees of these two colors. On occasion they will also mate with a Gilded Flicker, with the Gilded Flicker considered to be a species on its own. Northern Flickers have clutches with anywhere from 3 to 12 white eggs.

More Information:

They can be found in open areas, such as woodlands, on the edge of the forest and is also common in urban areas. The species breeds across all of North America from Alaska down through northern Canada and the United States, as far south as Central America and Cuba. The Red Shafted Northern Flicker breeds from Alaska south to the western part of North Dakota and Colorado, and then south into Mexico. They spend wintersin areas of southern Canada and southward from there.

Their song sounds like wik-wik-wik or wik-a-wik-a-wik-a with a single "peah" on the end. Although the bird likes to forage on the ground, you still can find them hammering on trunks of trees.

Of particular note is the fact that the Yellow Shafted Flicker is the State Bird of Alabama, although it goes by its local name of Yellowhammer. According to history, in the Civil War, Confederate troops from Huntsville, Alabama joined the war with yellow-trimmed uniforms and were jokingly referred to as yellowhammers.


Read more about the Flicker Woodpecker

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