Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker

A medium-sized woodpecker with a barred brown back and a black spotted belly. Unlike most woodpeckers, Flickers are often seen on the ground. This feather displays the iconic 'yellow shaft' trait.

Bicolored pattern featuring a distinct bright yellow tip and a grayscale (transitioning from dark gray to white) base. The yellow is result of carotenoid pigments.

Mixed structure: pennaceous (tightly interlocked) at the distal tip for weatherproofing, and plumulaceous (fluffy) at the base for insulation.

Smooth and glossy at the yellow tip; soft, downy, and matte at the whitish base.

Distinctive yellow distal coloration paired with a plumulaceous gray-white base; characteristic of the Colaptes genus.

Open woodlands, forest edges, yards, and parks; frequently forage on the ground for ants.

Common across North America; the Yellow-shafted variety is primarily eastern/northern but overlaps with Red-shafted in western contact zones like California.

Primary cavity nester and insect predator (specializing in ants); they create homes for many other 'secondary' cavity-nesting species.

Red-shafted Northern Flicker (feathers are salmon-orange/red), Gilded Flicker (found in desert regions, similar yellow but different body markings).

Northern Flickers are one of the few North American woodpeckers that are strongly migratory. They also have an incredibly long, sticky tongue used to lap up ants from underground galleries.

Good condition with minor barb separation; likely naturally molted rather than plucked by a predator.

Pacific Palisades, California