Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted or Red-shafted Flicker)

The Northern Flicker is a large, distinctive woodpecker known for its brownish body heavily barred with black and a striking white rump patch visible in flight. Unlike most woodpeckers, they frequently forage on the ground for ants and beetles. They have a rolling cackle call and a strong, undulating flight pattern.

Greyish-brown background with a very distinct, bold dark subterminal spot/band near the rounded tip, and fine dark barring on the upper vane

Pennaceous at the upper distal tip with interlocked barbs, transitioning to plumulaceous (fluffy, loose barbs without functional hooklets) at the proximal base

Soft and silky at the base due to downy barbs, becoming smoother and firmer toward the patterned tip

The combination of brownish-grey background coloration, fine black barring, and a prominent dark round spot near the feather tip is highly diagnostic for flicker body feathers.

Open woodlands, forest edges, suburban areas, parks, and agricultural fields with scattered trees and dead snags for nesting

Widespread across North America, ranging from Alaska and Canada down through the United States to Central America and Cuba

Flickers are a keystone species as primary cavity excavators; the holes they carve each year provide essential nesting and roosting real estate for dozens of secondary cavity-using birds and mammals.

Other woodpecker species such as the Red-bellied Woodpecker or Downy Woodpecker, though their body feathers typically lack the distinct large subterminal spot pattern found on flickers.

Northern Flickers have extremely long, barbed tongues that can extend nearly 2 inches beyond the tip of their bill to scoop up ants from underground colonies. They are also one of the few migratory woodpeckers in North America.

Good condition, intact barbs with no major fraying, showing a fresh clean appearance