It’s mid-March, the time of year when those winds from the balmy south send many of the migrating songbirds our way, soon to show up in our backyards and surrounding landscapes.
One of our favorite woodpeckers to watch for is the Northern flicker. We usually just catch sight of it as it seemingly makes a mad dash through our backyard. Its low, undulating flight pattern is a key giveaway for this species. The flash of a white rump and yellow on the underside of its wing and tail feathers as it dips and soars confirms we are catching a fleeting glance of a Northern flicker.
Northern flickers are very colorful birds. In addition to the coloration noted above, Northern flickers have black speckled backs and bellies, a black bib, a red spot on the back of the head and, if male, black “mustaches” near the base of either side of the bill; these are lacking in the female.
According to The Cornell Lab All About Birds website (AAB), there are two groups of Northern flickers. The flickers we see in Wisconsin belong to the yellow-shafted group due to the yellow coloration of the flight and tail feathers. You can see this golden coloration when the bird is in flight. The red-shafted group sports salmon-colored flight and tail feathers. It is the flickering of white and yellow (or salmon) of these birds in flight that gives the species its name, according to David A. Sibley in his book, “What It’s Like To Be A Bird.”
According to an article on the Flocking Around website entitled “Northern flicker Intergrades — Red-shafted vs. Yellow-shafted flickers,” the range of our yellow-shafted group is extensive, extending throughout the eastern United States and most of Canada. The red-shafted group is found in the western U.S. and Canada, Mexico and Central America. Where the ranges of the two groups meet, mating occurs between the groups and you can find intergrades whose coloration varies from that of either group.
You can learn to identify the Northern flicker by its songs and calls. According to AAB, the song of a Northern flicker is a loud, piercing, rolling rattle that rises and falls in volume several times and lasts about 7-8 seconds. Listen for it now, as it is heard in the spring and early summer and is a sign that birds are pairing up and establishing their territories.
Other calls made by the flickers include a single quick (about ½ second) kyeer call and a quieter, rhythmic wick-a, wick-a call made when birds are close together or displaying.
Songbirds communicate by song; woodpeckers add drumming to their repertoire. Like other woodpeckers, male and female Northern flickers make loud, evenly spaced, rapid drumming sounds by hammering their sturdy, slightly down-curved bill against trees or metal objects. Interestingly, the drumming lasts only about a second, but, amazingly, during that long second, the bird strikes the tree around 25 times.
Ouch, you’d think these woodpeckers would have constant headaches with all that hammering. Woodpeckers are built to handle this, according to Sibley. Their brains are lightweight and orientated to absorb frontal impacts. Their lower mandible (bill) is a bit longer than the upper, so it takes the brunt of the force of those hammering blows, sending it through the lower jaw rather the skull. A spongy bone layer at the base of the upper mandible also provides a cushion to soften the impact.
Unlike many woodpeckers that spend their time foraging up in the trees, the Northern flicker spends much of its time foraging on the ground. According to AAB, they eat mainly insects, a favorite being ants. They will hammer at the ground seeking out ants and their nutritious larvae, scooping them up with tongues that can extend 2 inches from the end of their beaks; they even break into cow patties to find an insect meal. They also eat berries and seeds, especially in the winter when insects are not as available.
According to AAB, Northern flickers raise one brood of five to seven young a year. Their nests are located in cavities that they excavate (or find) in tree trunks or large branches about 6-15 feet off the ground. According to Jennifer Ackerman in her book, “The Bird Way,” Northern flickers mimic other animal calls to keep predators from their nests. Flickers will buzz like a hive of bees to keep those pesky squirrels at bay.
While Northern flicker populations have declined over the last 60 years, numbers are still healthy; according to their Continental Concern Score, they are rated as low conservation concern.
Look for Northern flickers visiting open habitats near trees or busily foraging on the ground. This includes woodland edges and parks — even your own backyard, if you are lucky. They certainly add a mad dash splash of color and song to life and are a harbinger of spring and more birds to come.
Cathy Carnes is a retired biologist in Oconto who worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Green Bay Field Office and, prior to that, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Branch in Buffalo, New York. As endangered species coordinator for the USFWS, she helped conserve and recover federally listed threatened and endangered species in Wisconsin.
Northern flickers bringing their songs to state
