Northern flicker
Q: “I’m a little late in reading the February 2020 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living print magazine, but I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your article on the Cooper’s hawk. We live in Columbus but own a cabin in the Hocking Hills, and two summers in a row, a Cooper’s hawk sat on our fence waiting for birds. On page nine of your story, what is the name of the bird in the picture beside the cardinal? We got out our bird ID books and haven’t found it yet; perhaps the suet cake is covering too much of the bird to recognize it.” Sue Ann Geiger, South Central Power Company
A: Thanks for your question, Sue Ann, and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my Cooper’s hawk story. The bird you asked about is a member of the woodpecker family, a northern flicker. Formerly known as the yellow-shafted flicker, this dapper bird with a black bib and white rump patch has at least 132 colloquial names. Unlike most other woodpeckers, flickers spend much of their time on the ground foraging for ants. They may consume more ants than any other bird. One particular northern flicker reportedly had more than 5,000 ants in its stomach!
