All Hail The Flicker

What wanderer by the countryside has not halted to gaze at a bird with beautiful golden-brown plumage, as he sweeps in undulating flight through wood or orchard, revealing spots of jet scattered over his delicate chocolate-colored breast and a crescent of gorgeous crimson that caps the back of his head. To those who know, it is the golden-winged woodpecker, or, to call him by the most familiar of his several dozen local appellations, the flicker. To those to whom, unfortunately, birds are a mystery, it is a lovely flash of color. Though naturally a shy bird, the flicker in seeking a tree in which to establish his home will not infrequently take fancy to one standing in close proximity to a dwelling, and, if not interfered with, gradually accustoms himself to his human neighbors.

Ordinarily, the nest-hole is excavated fairly high up, but sometimes it is so low down that a forest rambler can conveniently peep in. I once witnessed a flicker that elected to construct his domicile nine feet up a decaying Spanish oak, down in northern Georgia. And a tough piece of work it was, too, for him to dig out that nest sixteen inches deep with a three-inch entrance- hole. It kept him busy for a full four weeks, during the latter half of which he put in as many as twelve hours of work a day, starting early and sticking to the job until dusk. In general the labor of nestbuilding is fairly shared by the female bird, but it was scanty aid our flicker got from his mate, who evidently disliked carpentry and shirked whenever she could do so.

In Georgia, laying takes place any time during the first three weeks of May. The eggs, white and glossy, are laid early in the morning, one each day, until the set, consisting generally of five eggs, is complete; sometimes there are only four; occasionally six or seven. The flicker has been known to raise a second brood in the same year, but this was not the case with our friends, and such an occurrence is certainly exceptional. Like most birds the flicker is not easily startled during the period of incubation, remaining indifferent to little molestations that at other times would have immediately scared him from the spot.

When once the writer, intent on investigations, flashed a light into the nest, the female did not budge, as could be observed through a small spy-hole previously drilled through the trunk into the nest; nor did the male show any agitation on a subsequent similar occasion, remaining unperturbed on the nest, with broken egg-shells protruding all round—truly an odd sight, but a beautiful and interesting one as well.