Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted Flicker, Common Flicker)

The Northern Flicker is a large, distinctive woodpecker with brownish plumage barred with black, a white rump visible in flight, and a gentle, undulating flight pattern. Unlike most woodpeckers, they frequently forage on the ground for ants and beetles.

Rich dark brown and black barring and spotting against a pale yellowish-white background, featuring a prominent, vibrant golden-yellow central rachis

Pennaceous structure on the upper vane with tightly interlocked barbicels, transitioning to a slightly more plumulaceous base near the calamus

Smooth, slightly glossy vane surface with a stiff, durable texture designed for flight aerodynamics

Brilliant yellow rachis combined with brownish-black barred and spotted vane patterns, diagnostic of the yellow-shafted form of the Northern Flicker

Open woodlands, forest edges, clearings, suburban parks, and semi-open country with scattered trees and snags

Widespread across North America, extending from Alaska and Canada down through the United States and into parts of Central America

As primary cavity nesters, Northern Flickers create essential nesting homes for numerous secondary cavity-dwelling species such as bluebirds, swallows, and small owls

Red-shafted Flicker (Colaptes auratus cafer), which features salmon-red rachises instead of yellow-gold

Northern Flickers are one of the few woodpecker species that are strongly migratory in the northern parts of their range and specialize in eating ants, using their sticky, barbed tongues to extract them from underground nests

Good condition with intact barbs and a clean, unfaded shaft, showing minimal wear and tear