Northern Flicker, Drummer

BirdNote^® 
Northern Flicker, A Drummer 
By Frances Wood

This is BirdNote.

And here’s a sound that might jar you awake one of these spring mornings.

         [Northern Flicker hammering]

Members of the woodpecker percussion band often choose early morning hours to whale away on metal roofs or gutters.

Woodpeckers announce their territory and attract mates by pounding on hollow surfaces with their bills. The drum may be a stovepipe, trashcan, even a car hood — or a hollow tree!

         [Call of Northern Flicker]

That’s the sound of a Northern Flicker, a brownish woodpecker, larger than a robin, smaller than a crow, with a black crescent bib and spotted belly, and shafts of color on its wings that flicker when it flies.

Drilling holes in tree trunks calls for some specialized tools, and the Northern Flicker has them. Big claws, for example, with two toes pointing forward and two backward. And a stiff tail to provide a third point of contact with the tree.

If it sounds like a steel band has moved in, try to be patient. As spring moves along, the woodpecker will find a mate and lose interest in hammering on your house. The birds will settle into a hollow tree to produce more woodpeckers.

         [Repeat Northern Flicker call]

Learn more on our website, BirdNote.org. I’m Mary McCann.

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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin

Bird sounds are provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Sounds of the Northern Flicker: Kleeyr call by W.W.H. Gunn; and drumming by D.S. Herr
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2011 BirdNote   March 2011 & April 2026   Narrator: Mary McCann

ID # NOFL-01b-KPLU-2009-03-05