Northern Flicker With A Mustache

December 26, 2025

This is a Northern Flicker yellow shafted form (Colaptes auratus luteus). See his black mustache? That indicates that he is a male. But of course!

He is a bird that is native to a great part of North America, some of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands. Though most woodpeckers don’t migrate, this is one species that does migrate. At least some of them. Those in the northern part of their native range will migrate further south and west during the winter to find more abundant sources of their favorite foods of ants and other insects on the ground. Another of their goals is to find areas with less snow cover, which of course helps to find those ants and insects.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.