Listen to the northern flicker
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the northern flicker
The northern flicker is a bird in the family Picidae (order Piciformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”. Adults have a wingspan of about 49 cm.
What does the northern flicker sound like?
Birds produce sound with the syrinx, a vocal organ deep in the chest that can make two independent sounds at once. Songs tend to be long and patterned and are used to hold territory and attract a mate; calls are short signals for contact, alarm and flight.
The recordings here are labelled as call, song and drumming. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
The northern flicker or common flicker (Colaptes auratus) is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate. Over 100 common names for the northern flicker are known, including yellowhammer (not to be confused with the Eurasian yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)), clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird. Many of these names derive from attempts to imitate some of its calls.
Related birds in the genus Colaptes
More from the family Picidae
Great spotted woodpecker
Dendrocopos major
Black woodpecker
Dryocopus martius
Eurasian wryneck
Jynx torquilla
European green woodpecker
Picus viridis
Lesser spotted woodpecker
Dryobates minor
Grey-headed woodpecker
Picus canus
Eurasian three-toed woodpecker
Picoides tridactylus
Pileated woodpecker
Dryocopus pileatus
Black-rumped flameback
Dinopium benghalense
Red-headed woodpecker
Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Acorn woodpecker
Melanerpes formicivorus
Frequently asked questions
What does a northern flicker sound like?
You can hear 7 recordings of the northern flicker on this page, including its call, song and drumming. Birds produce sound with the syrinx, a vocal organ deep in the chest that can make two independent sounds at once.
Is the northern flicker endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the northern flicker as “least concern”.
What family does the northern flicker belong to?
The northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) belongs to the family Picidae in the order Piciformes.
Sources & credits
- Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) - Guelph, Ontario by Ryan Hodnett – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call, song · Terra Nova (Village), Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada by Doug Hynes – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Blue Bell Campground, Custer State Park, South Dakota… by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Arteaga, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico by Leonardo Guzman Hernandez – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Blue Bell Campground, Custer State Park, South Dakota… by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call, drumming by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Northern Flicker – US National Park Service by NPS – Public domain (NPS) · NPS
- Wikidata Q16819 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Northern flicker – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Nature's Pic's (www.naturespicsonline.com) – Attribution