Andean Flicker

The Andean Flicker lives at extreme elevations across the central Andes, in treeless puna grassland where typical woodpecker habitat does not exist. It has adapted to a mostly terrestrial lifestyle, walking across rocky slopes and turf in loose flocks.

Its plumage is more muted than lowland flickers, matching the dun-colored grasses and rock of its high-altitude home, but it retains the flicker family's barred back and pale rump patch visible in flight.

• Back: brownish-buff ground color crossed by fine dark bars, less crisp than lowland flickers
• Underparts: pale buffy-yellow, lightly marked
• Rump: whitish patch flashes in flight, typical of the flicker genus
• Face: plain buffy-gray without strong facial stripes
• Vs. Chilean Flicker: Andean Flicker is paler and more uniformly buff, occupying much higher elevation grassland rather than temperate woodland-steppe

Sexes are similar, both showing the same buffy, barred pattern, with males typically carrying a small red or yellow malar mark that females lack. Juveniles are duller and browner overall. Molt follows the typical single annual cycle of Colaptes flickers, timed to the Andean dry and wet seasons.

Found from roughly 3,000 to over 4,600 meters elevation in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, in short grassland, rocky slopes, and around adobe or stone structures. It is non-migratory but may shift locally with seasonal grass growth and food availability.

Forages almost entirely on the ground for ants and other invertebrates, often in small social groups, walking with an upright gait rather than perching on trunks. It nests in burrows dug into earthen banks, cliffs, or adobe walls rather than in wood, an unusual habit for the woodpecker family. Its calls are loud, harsh chattering notes given from the ground or in flight.