Episode 81: Northern Flicker – Voice of the Wild

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

On close inspection this woodpecker’s garb is downright victorian; they have a delicate spot at the end of each feather of the chest and belly; a refined black rough at the front of the neck, the males even have a handsome black mustache along the sides of the face. But most notable of all; both sexes have a brilliant flash of color hidden on the underside of their wings. This is the northern flicker.

At a distance the flicker’s call can be confused with the similar sounding pileated woodpecker. A good rule of thumb is this: if there’s a question at all, it’s probably a flicker; the pileated’s call is very forceful. Here’s the flicker…and here’s the pileated:

Unusually for a woodpecker, the flicker typicaly directs their excavation efforts into the ground instead of wood, that’s good news for tree-dwelling beetle larvae and bad news for colonies of ants. Here’s the northern flicker again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW