#Flicker bird series#

Obsolete English Names:В yellow-shafted flicker, southern flicker, yellowhammer, golden-winged woodpeckerД«est places to see inВ Tennessee:В Every county in the state.One fine April morning in 1919, an 11-year-oldВ boy named Roger Tory Peterson was exploring a natural area in Jamestown, New York. The oldest known Northern Flicker in the wild was 9 years 2 months old.Drumming is most common in the spring during early morning and late afternoon and usually ends by July 1. Northern Flickers often select wooden shingles, cedar or redwood siding, metal or plastic gutters, television antennas, chimney caps, and light posts because these materials produce loud sounds. This can be annoying to people when the drumming is on or near houses. Woodpeckers 'drum' to attract mates, and to establish and/or defend a territory.Northern Flickers have been known to cause property damage by drilling holes in wood and synthetic stucco siding, and eaves of houses.Very few birds eat ants, but they are a favorite food of flickers and they will dig in the dirt to find them. More than any other woodpecker, Northern Flickers forage on the ground.Numbers in Tennessee are declining, possibly due to competition with the European Starling for nest cavities.Дynamic map of Northern Flicker eBird observations in Tennessee Status in Tennessee:В Northern Flickers are a fairly common permanent resident, and are more numerous in the winter due to the arrival of migrants from northern breeding areas. Competition for cavities with European Starlings is common. Nest heights in Tennessee have been recorded from 4 to 45 feet with an average of 18 feet.

They will occasionally dig cavities in wooden utility poles and fence posts. Males do most of the excavation of new cavities in a dead tree or the dead limb of a live tree. Nest:В Northern Flickers frequently reuse a nest cavity from a previous year. They leave the nest after 24 to 28 days and remain with the parents for a few additional weeks. Incubation:В The male incubates the eggs more than the female, and the eggs hatch in 11 to 14 days.ДЇledging:В Both adults feed the young regurgitated food. Nesting and reproduction:В Males and females vigorously defend the space around their nest tree but do not defend a feeding territory, probably because their food sources are not economically defendable.

They nest in almost all forest types found in Tennessee.Дiet:В Mostly ants but also beetle larvae, and during late autumn, winter and early spring, a variety of berries. Habitat:В Northern Flickers are found in open woodlands, forest edges, including cities and suburbs, and will visit backyard bird feeders. No other Tennessee woodpecker has the combination of overall brown coloration with bright white rump.The Pileated WoodpeckerВ call resembles that of the Northern Flicker wick wick wickВ call, but is louder and changes in pitch, and rhythm.Northern Flickers also make a loud kyeerВ note. This call is similar to the call of the Pileated Woodpecker.

#Flicker bird series#

Voice:В The territorial call is a long series of wick wick wickВ notes, rising and falling in volume and lasting 7 or 8 seconds. Males and females are similar but only males have a black mustache stripe on the face (red in western birds). In flight the white rump is conspicuous, as are the yellow wing-linings (red in western birds).Д®astern birds also have a red crescent on the nape of the neck. They are now recognized as belonging to the same species.Дescription:В This medium to large woodpecker is overall brownish with barring on its back, clear round spots on its breast, and a black crescent on its chest. This woodpecker was formerly called the Yellow-shafted Flicker in the East and the Red-shafted Flicker in the West because of their distinctly colored wing-linings. The northernmost birds migrate south in winter.

Northern Flickers are found across North America from the northern extent of forest in Alaska and Canada, to Cuba and Central America. They are easy to identify, especially on the wing, with their strong undulating flight and prominent white rump. In fact Northern Flickers eat more ants than any other bird in North America. Northern Flickers are unlike most other Tennessee woodpeckers in that they are primarily brown instead of black and white, and often feed on the ground.

National Archery in the Schools Program.

Go to Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.