Colaptes auratus

Also called the Common Flicker. Three forms previously were considered separate species, and then conspecific, then partially split: C. auratus (yellow-shafted Flicker); C. cafer (Red-shafted Flicker); C. chrysoides (Gilded Flicker). Sibley and Monroe (1990), citing information from N. K. Johnson, noted that interbreeding between cafer and chrysoides is limited; they treated the later as a distinct species, C. chrysoides. Fletcher and Moore (1992) found very little geographic variation in allozymes across the three subspecies groups and the entire continental U.S. (birds in general are known to display little allozymic differentiation, even between recognized species). These results agree with previous findings that the hybrid zone between Red- and Yellow-shafted Flickers does not act as a barrier to nuclear gene flow. The allozyme data indicate a population structure that is not congruent with that indicated by mtDNA data (see Fletcher and Moore 1992). Fletcher and Moore concluded that more data are needed before taxonomic considerations regarding the Gilded Flicker (chrysoides subspecies group) can be adequately addressed. AOU (1995) cited limited hybridization between auratus and chrysoides and marked clutch size differences in recognizing C. auratus (with cafer) and C. chrysoides as distinct species. Isolated form on Cuba, chrysocaulosus, usually treated as a race of C. auratus and form in Middle America, mexicanoides, usually treated as a race of C. cafer (AOU 1998).

Still very common.

BREEDS: from tree limit in central Alaska, northwestern Mackenzie, northern Manitoba, James Bay, central Quebec, southern Labrador, and Newfoundland, south to Baja California, southern Texas, Gulf coast, sounthern Florida, Nicaragua, Cuba and Grand Cayman. WINTERS: southern Canada south (Terres 1980).

This species is represented by a large number of occurrences (subpopulations), with an estimated population of nine million by Partners in Flight (2013), with four million being in the U.S.

Although Northern Flicker remains common, its declining abundance, evident since 1966, is alarming. No rigorous, focused studies identify the cause of this decline; 3 hypotheses: (1) competition from European Starlings for nest cavities (2) declining availability of suitable nest-cavity substrate (snags, dead limbs, and live trees with heart rot) and (3) pesticide application on golf courses, agricultural fields and suburban lawns (Wiebe and Moore, 2008). The cause of the declines in recent decades is unknown; perhaps food resources (ants) have become scarce due to pesticide use and/or, in the south, the impact of imported fire ants (are these eaten by flickers?) on native ants (S. Droege). Subspecies CHRYSOIDES (gilded flicker) has declined in southern California due to loss and degradation of riparian forest habitat and extirpation of saguaros (California Department of Fish and Game 1990). European starlings sometimes usurp nest sites, but flickers do not necessarily incur a reduction in fecundity because they may be able to renest successfully later in the season, though this is not without its problems (Ingold 1994).