Scientific Name:   Colaptes auratus

Length:   11.0-12.2 in (28-31 cm)

Weight:   3.9-5.6 oz (110-160 g)

Wingspan:   16.5-20.1 in (42-51 cm)

Nest:   They usually excavate nest holes in dead or diseased tree trunks or large branches. The entrance hole is about 3 inches in diameter, and the cavity is 13-16 inches deep. The cavity widens at bottom to make room for eggs and the incubating adult. Inside, the cavity is bare except for a bed of wood chips for the eggs and chicks to rest on.

Eggs:   5-8, sometimes 3-12. White. Incubation is by both sexes (with male incubating at night and part of day), 11-16 days.

Feeding Behavior:   They are the only woodpeckers that frequently feed on the ground", probing with their beak, also sometimes catching insects in flight. Although they eat fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts, their primary food is insects. Ants alone can make up 45% of their diet and flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, and snails. Northern flickers also eat berries and seeds, especially in winter, including those of poison ivy, poison oak, dogwood, sumac, wild cherry and grape, bayberries, hackberries, and elderberries, as well as sunflower and thistle seeds.

Young:   Both parents feed young, by regurgitation. Young leave nest about 4 weeks after hatching, are fed by parents at first, later following them to good foraging sites.

Range:   Northern flickers are partial migrants, in which some southern populations are completely non-migratory. Those that do migrate tend to begin their spring migration towards the beginning of April and make their return between September and October. Northern flickers are divided into eastern and western populations by the Rocky Mountains. Individuals breeding in the prairie provinces of Canada, the Dakotas, and surrounding U.S. states winter in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

Brief Description:   Adults are brown with black bars on the back and wings and necklace-like black patch occupies the upper breast, while the lower breast and belly are beige with black spots. Males can be identified by a black or red stripe at the base of the beak, while females lack this stripe. The tail is dark on top, transitioning to a white rump which is conspicuous in flight.