Gilded Flicker

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Gilded Flicker
The Gilded Flicker was until recently considered a subspecies of the widespread Northern Flicker. The ice ages separated the ancestral flickers, keeping them scattered in several refugia for thousands of years. Today those barriers are gone. The Gilded Flicker has become adapted to the desert, whereas the two northern populations inhabit woodland habitat, with only the treeless Great Plains keeping them somewhat apart. All three forms interbreed where their ranges come together, and numerous confusing intermediates can be found.

The Gilded Flicker is a large brownish woodpecker. It has a brown back with dark bars and spots, whitish or buff below with black spots, black crescent on breast and a white rump with yellow underwings visible in flight. Its face and throat are pale gray. The male has a red mustache.

The Gilded Flicker's voice is a loud, repeated woika. It also consists of a loud series of kee notes.
Gilded Flicker Range Map

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