• The Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus, is a member of the woodpecker family (Picidae).  They are common throughout North America and are year-round residents of Colorado.



• At about 12” in length with a wingspan of 20”, they are large woodpeckers with gray heads and black and brown striping on their backs.  The male is identified by a red malar, a “moustache” below the eye.  Both sexes have a black bib across the chest.  The variety in the west is “red-shafted”, meaning their tail feathers are red underneath and the undersides of their wings are reddish.  Flickers are easily identified by a white patch on their rumps when flying.

• “Yellow-shafted” Northern Flickers inhabit the eastern part of the United States, but they have been seen in Colorado during migration.  Ornithologists once considered the “red-shafted” and yellow-shafted” as separate species, but they are now considered the same species and they easily inter-breed where their ranges overlap.

• Flickers can be found in open habitats near trees in parks, yards, and greenbelts.  In Colorado, they also live in mountain forests up to tree line during the summer. 

• Flickers have a loud raucous call and can also be heard drumming on trees as a form of communication or territorial defense.

• Unlike most woodpeckers who forage in trees, Flickers are usually seen feeding on the ground.  In trees, they are often upright on horizontal branches while most woodpeckers move along tree trunks.

• Insects, mainly ants, are the main source of nutrition for Flickers. They will also eat flying insects and forage on berries and seeds, often eating seeds on the ground below a bird feeder.

• The male and female Flickers work together to find or excavate a nesting hole in a tree (sometimes a post or birdhouse).  Both sexes will incubate a clutch of 6-8 eggs until they hatch about 12 days after being laid.  The chicks will fledge around 26 days after hatching.  Unlike most bird species, the male plays a larger role than the female in nest-building and chick-rearing.

• Northern Flickers are partial migrants.  Most birds on the front range don’t migrate because ground foraging is available year-round.  Flickers that summer in the mountains migrate to lower altitudes or latitudes during the winter.  Some populations of Northern Flickers migrate as far north as Alaska.

• Flickers can be seen “anting” an unusual behavior where they visit an ant colony, spread their wings, and allow ants to crawl all over them.  Scientists postulate that this behavior helps control feather parasites.

References: Sibley Birds West, Cornell’s allaboutbirds.com, Wikipedia, Audubon.org