Photo by Naturepicsonline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_flicker#/media/File:Northern_Flicker.jpg
Wildlife Wednesday: Winter Woodpeckers
Another one of the migratory woodpeckers that appears here in the Houston area this time of year is the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus).
These lovely brown woodpeckers are often heard pecking on trees or making a loud repeated Ki Ki Ki Ki call. The males of the Eastern sub-species (called a Yellow-shafted Flicker) have a black mustache mark, which the females lack (the western subspecies, the Red-shafted Flicker has a red mustache mark).
This is the only woodpecker species in the U.S. that regularly and commonly feeds on the ground, eating a wide variety of items, including nuts, seeds, berries, worms, and insects.
Cover Photo by Mark Moschell | Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/
