Northern Flicker (cc image: flikr)

What’s that jarring sound on the metal flashing? Have you heard it? If you look up, you’ll see the Northern Flicker, a member of the woodpecker family.  Thirteen inches long, Northern Flickers have wingspans of 21 inches. They do most of their foraging for food on the ground. They eat ants, termites, caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers, other insects, spiders, berries, seeds, and nuts. This makes them susceptible to herbicides and pesticides.

Northern Flicker nesting areas have been taken over by the more aggressive European Starlings, a hundred of which were brought over to New York in the 1890s and whose population has grown to 200 million ranging over the entire continent. According to the Audobon Society, it is common for starlings to expel flickers from their own nesting cavity.

Drumming is a form of woodpecker communication and flickers like to seek out metal flashing on roofs because the noise projects farther over suburban noises and is more readily found than wood. Drumming is not harmful to the metal. A flicker drum roll consists of a series of rapid beats, lasting about 1 second. The male often drums in spring to attract a mate and also when another male invades his territory.  This flicker in the video found a metal guard rail. Drum roll please….

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