Northern Flicker male at the nesting cavity, Targhee National Forest of Clark County, Idaho

Northern Flicker Images, Facts and Information:

Colaptes auratus

  • Northern Flickers are large, brownish woodpeckers with black scalloped plumage, large, slightly curved bills and small rounded heads. In the East the underside of the wings are yellow and in the West they are reddish orange. Hybrid species do occur where the range of the two subspecies overlap. Western males have a red malar stripe and eastern males have black malar stripes.
  • Northern Flickers are migratory, some are year round residents though northern populations will migrate south during the winter.
  • Northern Flickers prefer forest edges, open woodlands, fields with scattered trees, city parks, yards and woods near streams.
  • Northern Flickers eat ants, beetles, flies, butterflies, moths and during winter they will eat fruits and seeds.
  • Norther Flickers nest in cavities. They lay 3 to 12 eggs which hatch in 11 to 16 days. Both sexes incubate and they are monogamous.
  • A group of flickers can be called a “guttering” or “menorah” of flickers.
  • Northern Flickers can live up to 9 years.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Northern Flicker photos.

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