Least ConcernNorthern Flicker
Colaptes auratus
11 countries105 parks
Species group · Birds
WAnimals has 5 species of woodpecker, in the family Picidae.
Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
1 species in this group is in a threatened category according to the IUCN.
Recorded in 13 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Its hybrid zone between the yellow-shafted and red-shafted groups runs from northern Texas to southern Alaska, and has become one of the world's benchmark study systems for the consequences of secondary contact between lineages.
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As many as 13 subspecies have been described for it, grouped into five morphological types.
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In 2021 its chromosome-scale reference genome was published, making it one of the most thoroughly characterised woodpeckers genetically.
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It excavates its nests in the saguaro, the giant cactus of the Sonoran Desert; the abandoned cavities are later reused by elf owls, bats and other birds.
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Unlike the acorn woodpecker, with which it shares a genus, it is a solitary bird and does not form cooperative groups.
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It is diurnal: it spends much of the day foraging and retires at nightfall.
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It stores thousands of acorns in holes drilled into a single granary tree.
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Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 5.
It stores acorns in "granary trees": the group drills thousands of holes in a single trunk and wedges an acorn into each one. Larders with tens of thousands of holes have been counted.
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