Like the Red-heads, these birds are noisy, but they have few of the bad qualities of the others. Besides the regular Woodpecker fare, they get a great many ants and beetles from the ground and fruit and acorns from the trees. They are also said to be fond of orange juice. In most of their range they are regarded as rather shy and retiring birds.
Note.—A sharp, resonant “cha,” “cha,” “cha,” repeated.
Nest.—In holes bored usually in live trees and at any height from the ground. Their five or six eggs are glossy white (1.00 × .75).
Range.—United States east of the Plains, breeding from Florida and Texas to southern Pennsylvania and Minnesota. Winters along the Gulf coast; occasionally strays to Massachusetts.
Male with a black moustache mark; female without, although young females in the first plumage show some black.
These birds are very often known as “Golden-winged Woodpeckers,” “High-holes” and about a hundred other names in different localities. Flickers are found commonly in woods, orchards, or trees by the roadside; on pleasant days their rapidly uttered, rolling whistle may be heard at all hours of the day.
Note.—A rapidly repeated whistle, “cuk,” “cuk,” “cuk”; an emphatic “quit-u,” “quit-u,” and several others of a similar nature.
Nest.—A cavity in a tree, at any distance from the ground. The white eggs usually vary in number from five to ten, but they have been known to lay as many as seventy-one, where an egg was taken from the nest each day.
Range.—South Atlantic States. The Northern Flicker (luteus) is found in North America east of the Rocky Mountains.
RED-SHAFTED FLICKER 413. Colaptes cafer collaris. 13 inches
Crown brown and throat gray, these colors being just reversed from those of the common Flicker.
The male is distinguished by a red moustache mark, which the female lacks. The typical male Red-shafted Flicker lacks the red crescent on the back of the head, but it is often present on individuals, as there are numerous hybrids between this species and the preceding. Flickers are more terrestrial in their habits than are any others of the family; their food consists largely of ants which they get from the ground.
Note.—Same as those of the last; both species often utter a purring whistle when they are startled from the ground.