Northern Flicker (Red-shafted subspecies)

This stunning feather belongs to a large, ground-foraging woodpecker. Northern Flickers are unique for their tan-brown barred plumage and black breast crescents. In flight, the 'Red-shafted' western birds flash brilliant salmon-orange underwings.

Salmon-orange to pinkish-red rachis and basal vane; the distal portion of the vane is a deep chocolate brown-black with an ivory-white inner margin near the base.

Strictly pennaceous and tightly interlocked with robust hooklets; the base shows minimal plumulaceous downy barbs; the vane is stiff and resilient.

Smooth, stiff, and glossy. The rachis has a hard, waxy texture, and the vane surface is relatively waterproof and resistant to abrasion.

Electric orange-red rachis (shaft), dark chocolate-brown tip, and asymmetrical vane shape diagnostic of flight feathers.

Open woodlands, forest edges, suburban yards, parks, and riparian areas; often foragers on the ground.

Western North America, from British Columbia and south-central Alaska through the Great Plains to Mexico.

Primary cavity nester; their abandoned holes provide essential nesting sites for secondary cavity nesters like bluebirds and small owls.

Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker (distinguished by yellow rachis) and Gilded Flicker (found in saguaro deserts with different color saturation).

Unlike most woodpeckers, Northern Flickers primarily eat ants and beetles by drumming on the ground rather than just trees.

Excellent condition; the barbs are fully intact with no visible fault bars or parasite damage, suggesting a freshly molted or high-quality adult feather.