Northern Flicker
A large spotted woodpecker hunts ants on Kansas lawns and prairie edges, then flashes a white rump and yellow—or sometimes reddish—flight feathers when disturbed.
Artwork inspired by Clara Weaver Parrish
Northern Flickers are brown barred woodpeckers with spotted underparts, a black chest crescent, a long slightly curved bill, and a conspicuous white rump in flight. Yellow-shafted birds predominate through the Great Plains, but red-shafted birds and intermediates occur, so underwing color should describe the form rather than determine the species.
Search open ground beneath cottonwoods before scanning trunks. A flicker probes ant colonies, then may bound to a snag or utility pole while giving a loud ringing call. Drumming on metal advertises territory; a nest requires a cavity. Keep distance from repeated cavity visits and preserve safe dead limbs where possible.
- Unexpected behavior
- A woodpecker that often feeds on the ground
- Flight marks
- White rump plus colored wing and tail shafts
- Kansas variation
- Mostly yellow-shafted; red-shafted and intermediate birds occur
Quick guide
- Scan down first
- Check lawns, burned edges, and open soil for ant probing
- Confirm in flight
- Use spotted body, black crescent, white rump, and shaft color
Identify the flicker from ground probe to bounding flight
- Begin below the trees
- Look across a Kansas lawn, cemetery, prairie edge, or cottonwood clearing for a large brown woodpecker probing soil with a slightly curved bill.
- Read the patterned body
- Check black spots across the pale belly, dark barring above, and the bold black chest crescent.
- Follow the first flight
- Watch for a bright white rump during bounding flight, then note yellow or red-orange beneath wings and tail.
- Protect the cavity cycle
- Use calls and drumming from a distance.
Good to know
Yellow-shafted and red-shafted flickers are regional forms of one species, and hybrids occur where their ranges meet. A reddish flash in Kansas is worth documenting, not renaming as a different species.
Notice these
- Black chest crescent
- Spotted pale underparts
- White rump flash
- Yellow or red-orange flight-feather shafts