Northern Flicker

• 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.
• As many as 13 subspecies have been described for it, grouped into five morphological types.
• In 2021 its chromosome-scale reference genome was published, making it one of the most thoroughly characterised woodpeckers genetically.
• It is one of the few woodpeckers that regularly feed on the ground, where it looks for ants. Its nest cavities are later reused by many other birds, which makes it a keystone species of its woodlands.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

A wide variety of wooded settings across North America, from Alaska to northern Nicaragua, Cuba and the Cayman Islands

Size at birth

The chicks leave the nest about four weeks after hatching

Sexual maturity

12 months

Gestation / incubation

11 days

Litter / clutch size

4

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; Manthey et al. 2021 (genoma de referencia a escala cromosómica, G3/NCBI); Bernis et al., Ardeola (nombres castellanos SEO); Freeman et al. 2025, Frontiers in Parasitology; Linnaeus 1758

Best time: All year round over much of its range; the northern populations migrate