Yellow-Shafted (or Northern) Flickers are hardy (and noisy!) members of the Woodpecker family. Like most Woodpeckers, they have specialized feet for walking vertically up tree trunks, and beaks designed to hammer into wood for grubs. These birds also have extremely long tongues used to probe for food. When not in use, the Flicker's tongue retracts back into a channel that wraps around the bird's head!

While every young Flicker has a sort of black mustache, a "malar stripe," this marking remains visible only on adult males, disappearing from the females as they grow their adult plumage.

Flickers are cavity nesters, and each spring many nestlings are injured when dead trees are chopped down by homeowners. Termites and ants make up a large part of the Flicker's diet, and many of these birds are also poisoned by the insecticides used to control such bugs.

These young Flickers came to us when the tree they were nesting in was cut down. All were successfully returned to the wild.