This large and common woodpecker rarely uses trees for feeding like respectable woodpeckers. Instead it spends almost all its feeding time on the ground where it specializes on eating ants. During the winter, however, it will also consume nuts, grain and seeds. It is noisy and uses its long and durable bill to make loud drumming sounds on hollow branches, lampposts, and metal roofs. The Northern Flicker uses a wide range of holes and cavities in which to make its nest - including snags, telephone poles, houses, haystacks and nest boxes. They even have been known to steal river bank nest holes from kingfishers and bank swallows.
The four-digit banding code is RSFL.
