Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted or Red-shafted)

A striking feather from a large, brownish woodpecker. Northern Flickers are unique for their ground-foraging habits and flash of brilliant color under their wings and tail during flight.

Deep salmon-pink to reddish-orange shafts and vanes. This reddish hue is diagnostic for the western 'Red-shafted' subspecies group of the Northern Flicker.

Mostly pennaceous and tightly interlocked for flight efficiency; slight plumulaceous down at the very base (calamus area).

Stiff, smooth, and slightly glossy. Woodpecker feathers are notably rigid to withstand the mechanical stress of drumming and climbing.

Saturated reddish-orange rachis and vanes; stiff, reinforced shaft typical of the Picidae family; lack of heavy barring indicates it is from the undersurface.

Open woodlands, forest edges, yards, and parks. Unlike many woodpeckers, flickers frequently forage on the ground in grassy areas.

Broadly distributed across North America. The red-shafted variety is the dominant form in Western North America from the Rockies to the Pacific.

Primary cavity nester that provides homes for many other 'secondary' cavity-nesting species. Significant predator of ground-dwelling ants.

Yellow-shafted Flicker (has yellow shafts), Gilded Flicker (distinct range/color), and various tropical Woodpeckers (not found in North America).

Northern Flickers are one of the few North American woodpeckers that are strongly migratory. They also have a specialized long, barbed tongue for extracting ants from the ground.

Fair to Good. Shows some mechanical wear and separation in the barbs (venting), likely a naturally molted specimen.