Northern Flicker

About the Northern Flicker

The northern flicker or common flicker (Colaptes auratus) is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate. Over 100 common names for the northern flicker are known, including yellowhammer (not to be confused with the Eurasian yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)), clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird. Many of these names derive from attempts to imitate some of its calls.

The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the northern flicker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was published between 1729 and 1732. Catesby used the English name "Gold-winged Wood-pecker" and the Latin Picus major alis aureis. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for its 10th edition, he included the northern flicker, coined the binomial name Cuculus auratus for it, and cited Catesby's book.

The specific epithet auratus is a Latin word meaning "gilded" or "ornamented with gold". The... Wikipedia →