2020 05 30 Palmer Park   109🐦

Photo: mark byzewski · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesPiciformesPicidae
Birds

🐦Northern Flicker

Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The northern flicker or common flicker is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate. Over 100 common names for the northern flicker are known, including yellowhammer, clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird. Many of these names derive from attempts to imitate some of its calls.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
37
Photos
4
Measurements
12
vs you
≈ 1/470th of your weight
Also called
Yellow-shafted Flicker
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
0.13 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
13 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Northern Flicker

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.13 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.12 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.11 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.15 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.04 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.03 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
13 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
11 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 4
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Shrubland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Generalist
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.1 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Northern Flicker yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderPiciformes
  5. ›familyPicidae
  6. ›genusColaptes
  7. ›speciesColaptes auratus
Full lineage
  1. classBirds · Aves
  2. orderPiciformes
  3. familyPicidae
  4. genusColaptes
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. orderPiciformes
  11. familyPicidae
  12. genusColaptes
More

More about the Northern Flicker

In other languages
Goldspecht (de), picot escapulari (ca), datel zlatý (cs), Guldspætte (da), Colaptes auratus (es), kultatikka (fi) … and 22 more languages

Animals caught on camera

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