View allAll Photos Tagged flicker
A Northern Flicker (red shafted) alights on a cottonwood stem, catching the last rays of sunlight on a cold winter day. Although they are well suited for clambering around tree branches, flickers mostly feed on the ground.
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) in the aspen woods north of Thorhild, Alberta, Canada.
15 June, 2016.
Slide # GWB_20160615_5035.CR2
Use of this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission is not permitted.
© Gerard W. Beyersbergen - All Rights Reserved Worldwide In Perpetuity - No Unauthorized Use.
Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.
There were seven eggs, and though it is impossible? to count, it looks like all the eggs hatched.
Mom and Pop are busy tending the newborns; feeding, cleaning, and feeding each other as they take turns tending the nest.
This trio of Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus) were among several that were flitting about in this bare tree on a recent day. They were quite a distance away for this shot, across a body of water, but it helped that the birds were in direct sunlight.
Among woodpeckers, Northern flickers are ground-foraging champs, especially when it comes to ants. Unlike typical woodpeckers, they hop around on open areas or forest floors, using their sharp, curved beaks to poke into soil or flip over debris.
Once they locate an ant colony, they bury their long bill into the soil and jab that long, sticky tongue in, slurping up ants and larvae. They’ll even hammer at anthills to break them open, or forage rotting wood for carpenter ants. An adaptation to expand the food sources in their territory, that most woodpeckers don't utilize.
Our beautiful world, pass it on.
A male Northern Flicker landed on top of our Mt. Adams Pine to bask in the sun for a few moments. After this brief pit stop he proceeded to the suet feeder for a snack.
A fiercely florescent Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) feeding on Suet which is attached to the rail of our deck stairs.
The male really stood out with his nape colours. He has been making a nuisance of himself by hammering on our chimney cap. Typical Spring territorial behaviour, but it's a bit annoying!
This Northern flicker was seen in the Countrywood/Bancroft neighborhood of Walnut Creek, California.
New Britain Pa.
Many thanks to all who take the time to view, comment and fave my images. Enjoy the day.
Not many ants around, so this flicker was rooting around in the grass for what ever was edible.
Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, March 21, 2025.
Colaptes auratus
Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.
Two male Yellow-shafted Flickers called from opposite sides of a very large tree at Lake St. Clair Metropark.
The Red-shafted Flickers are common in western States; Yellow-shafted is more common in eastern States. Both are called Northern Flicker.
This male northern yellow shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus) seems to have laid claim to this hollow tree, going in and out regularly as well as calling loudly while perching in the entrance. Announcing to all comers that this is his.
This Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted Flicker) was really working a dead tree trunk, relentlessly rearing his head back, and thrusting his bill forward into a hole he was opening in the trunk. Small wood chips and dust were blown onto his face, and he furiously scratched his head with his right foot. I think something irritated his eye, which was closed during the scratching (as can be seen in the picture).
being a 'birder' to an extent I really have mixed feelings about these effective little predators...but then again, it is the nature of things..
The gilded flicker (Colaptes chrysoides) is a large-sized woodpecker (mean length of 29 cm (11 in)) of the Sonoran, Yuma, and eastern Colorado Desert regions of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico including all of the Baja Peninsula except the extreme northwestern region. Golden yellow underwings distinguish the gilded flicker from the northern flicker found within the same region, which have red underwings.
The gilded flicker most frequently builds its nest hole in a majestic saguaro cactus, excavating a nest hole nearer the top than the ground.The cactus defends itself against water loss into the cavity of the nesting hole by secreting sap that hardens into a waterproof structure that is known as a saguaro boot. Northern flickers, on the other hand, nest in riparian trees and very rarely inhabit saguaros. Gilded flickers occasionally hybridize with northern flickers in the narrow zones where their range and habitat overlap.
Los Angeles. California.
These birds are one of my favorite woodpeckers. They've been almost as hard to photograph in my area as pileated woodpeckers are. I was quite happy that this year, we've got two Flickers hanging around our house! Plus, it's just fun to post a photo of a Flicker on Flickr.
Nikon Z f
Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E
FTZ Adapter
Pulsating or flickering auroras typically follow after a major substorm. They might be caused by electrons bouncing back and forth from pole to pole. Neat to watch but tough to shoot except on video. A substorm is a usually brief outburst or brightening and increase in motion that might last only a few minutes before subsiding. And after it subsides the aurora can sometimes turn into a pulsating form. Never gets tired of seeing the northern lights. I can understand why people travel around the world to see them. After years of photographing this natural phenomenon I still find it beautiful and fascinating every time.