Day 67: Northern Flicker

Last weekend, as I was chillin' on our living room couch, I saw a bird land on a tree that I didn't quite recognize. Grabbing my binoculars, I realized that it was a Northern Flicker, another species of woodpecker! Soon after, a second flicker joined the first, which was even cooler. We see flickers every once in a while in our yard, but it's always exciting.

The Northern Flicker is a common, primarily ground-foraging woodpecker that can be found year-round throughout the wooded regions of North America. Adults are brown with black bars on the back and wings, black patches on the upper breast, and black spots on the belly. Males are identified by a black or red stripe at the base of the beak (almost like a mustache).

Flickers are the only woodpeckers that frequently feed on the ground, and their primary food is insects. Ants alone can make up 45% of their diet.