Dan's Feathursday Feature: Northern Flicker

I used to love Gary Larson's Far Side comics. One of my favorites shows an antlered deer, probably during hunting season, with a large red circle on his chest and a red spot in the middle—like the Target logo. His friend looks at him sympathetically: "Bummer of a birthmark, Hal."

Which brings us to the Northern Flicker. I remember a one-week period one September when I witnessed three Northern Flickers in one stage or other of dismemberment by birds of prey. One morning while I watched a Peregrine Falcon devour a Flicker (see photo), another Flicker sped by with two Cooper's Hawks on its tail. All three birds disappeared beyond a stand of sumac where a short squeal told me the Flicker probably met its maker. Then yesterday a friend sent a photo of a Flicker's wing she found near her home, probably dropped by a falcon or a hawk.

Birder friends have told me that Northern Flickers really are a preferred target of raptors, and my experience bears that out. What is it about Northern Flickers that earns them that distinction? My theory—backed by absolutely no scientific evidence—is that they are victims of a bummer of a birthmark. The Northern Flicker has a bright white patch painted right on its rump that is exposed when it flies, and shouts "Here I am!" to any bird of prey in pursuit. It's an easy target for a falcon to fix its sights on.

Or not. More likely Flickers just really taste good, thanks to their healthy diet of organic free-range ants and grubs. But I like my theory, and I'm sticking with it.

Flickers are woodpeckers, but unlike other woodpeckers, they do most of their hunting on the ground, poking and scratching for ants, grubs and beetles. If you walk along a forest edge, or through an oak savannah, chances are good you'll flush a Northern Flicker, among other ground-feeding birds. As they fly away, how will you know which one is the Flicker? By the bright flash of white on its rump. See? And if you were a raptor, which bird would you find easiest to follow?

I rest my case.

Dan's Feathursday Feature is a regular contribution to the COS blog featuring the thoughts, insights and pictures of Chicago birder, Dan Lory on birds of the Chicago region.