Hi, I am a Northern Flicker. I am the only woodpecker that is brown, and when I fly you can see a large white patch on my behind, with a yellow under surface on my tail and wings. I have a patch of red at the back of my head, and a black crescent. Females are duller in color and then males, have a black streak along each side of the throat, while our females have the black crescent on her breast, but is much smaller.
You will recognize us by the round black spots on our sides, lower chest and belly, cool uh? We having a pointed tail at the tip, which helps us grip onto barks of a tree to support us. You can see by the photos we have a strong bill which is slightly arched and nearly as long as our heads. Our tongue looks like a worm, with a sharp tip that can extend far beyond the end of our bill, which helps us spear insects in tiny holes in trees.
Our tongue its covered with a sticky spit to get those ants and yummy insects. We are the size of a Robin with a wingspan from 18 to 21 inches long. We eat mostly things that are found on the ground where we can run a few steps until we find a yummy ant hill or insects. Ants are our favorite food, but we will eat fruit, insects, and even poison ivy, but during the wintery months we depend on you to have suet feeders. During the spring you will hear us loudly saying WICKER… WICKER.. WICKER.., and you can hear this all over the area we are at.
Males will make drumming sounds by hitting our bill on the trees. Males hollow out a cavity in a dead tree for a nest and our females will lay her eggs of 5 to 8 which is called a Clutch. Both parents will take care of their babies until they are ready to be on their own. I hope one day you will hear us making lots of noise one day and wander around to find us and say HELLO.
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