The Northern Flicker is a woodpecker.  Unlike most woodpeckers you will not often find it hammering on tree trunks looking for bugs.  It hammers on trees and even metal objects to announce its presence to other woodpeckers.  But the Northern Flicker likes to eat insects off the ground, especially ants.  To help slurp them up, this flicker’s barbed tongue is over 2 inches long.

 

food	nesting
This woodpecker feasts mostly ground-dwelling insects like ants and beetles.  In winter, it will also eat fruit and seeds.	The Northern Flicker will reuse an existing nest cavity.  It does not build a nest, but does line the cavity with wood shavings.  The female lays five to eight eggs that hatch in about two weeks.  When they are about 2 ½ weeks old, the babies cling to the sides of the cavity rather than sitting in the shavings.
habitat	nest box location
The Northern Flicker lives throughout North Carolina in and on the edge of woodlands, and open fields with scattered trees.	Place the nestbox on a pole or tree along a forest edge or a fencerow bordering crop fields.  Place the box 6 to 30 feet above the ground, facing southeast.  The box should be completely filled with wood chips or shavings. Locate nestboxes 200 feet apart.