Birds
Northern Flicker
Colaptes auratus · also called northern flickers, yellowhammer
Hopping across an open lawn rather than clinging to a tree trunk, a northern flicker digs into an ant nest with its long, barbed tongue, feeding in a way that sets it apart from nearly every other woodpecker in North America.
Overview
The northern flicker, Colaptes auratus, is a large, boldly marked woodpecker native to forest edge, open woodland, and grassland across nearly the entire North American continent. Its unusual ground-feeding habit, two distinct interbreeding colour forms, and loud territorial drumming on resonant surfaces make it one of the more behaviourally and visually distinctive woodpeckers found anywhere on the continent.
A woodpecker that would rather walk than climb
While most woodpeckers stay firmly attached to tree trunks, the northern flicker spends a striking amount of time on open ground, treating lawns and fields as just another place to dig for its favourite food.
Status
Least Concern, though showing a decreasing trend in parts of its range linked to nest cavity competition with introduced European starlings.
Northern Flicker: common questions
Why does the northern flicker feed on the ground?
This species is one of the few North American woodpeckers that regularly forages on the ground rather than on tree trunks, hopping across lawns and open fields to dig ants directly out of their underground nests using a long, sticky, barbed tongue well suited to the task.
Why do northern flickers look different depending on where you see them?
This species displays two distinct colour forms, a yellow-shafted form found across the east and north and a red-shafted form found across the west, with the two forms interbreeding freely where their ranges overlap, producing individuals showing a mix of both patterns in the contact zone.
Why does the northern flicker drum on metal gutters and buildings?
A male of this species drums loudly on resonant surfaces as a territorial and courtship display, and metal objects such as gutters, chimney caps, and other building materials produce an especially loud, far-carrying sound, making them an attractive, if sometimes disruptive, choice of drumming surface near human structures.
Why has the northern flicker declined in some areas?
This species has shown a decreasing trend in parts of its range linked to competition for nest cavities with introduced European starlings, which aggressively compete for and take over the same cavities flickers depend on, along with the loss of open ground foraging habitat in some developed areas.