For unfamiliarity among common birds in our area, the northern flicker must surely take the prize. Flickers are abundant at this time of year, but judging from the questions I get about birds, many ...

Few birds have more common names than the northern flicker. This flashy woodpecker goes by cotton-rump, high-hole, yellowhammer and at least 150 other colloquialisms. All these monikers speak to the ...

A woodpecker by any other name is … a flicker. Flickers are members of the Picidae family, which also includes sapsuckers. Birds of this family use their chiseled bills to bore into trees. Sapsuckers ...