Male Gilded Flicker (Colaptes chrysoides)
This is a Male Gilded Flicker—he is the desert specialist of the Southwest rather than the more widespread Northern Flicker. Key field marks visible in the (clickable) photo match a male Gilded perfectly:
- Tan/cinnamon-brown crown
- Gray face and throat
- Bright red malar (“mustache”) stripe (males only)
- Bold black crescent/bib on the upper breast
- White underparts densely spotted with black
- Long, pointed bill and the typical woodpecker posture
The yellowish-orange edges showing on the tail also fit Gilded (which has yellow underwing and tail shafts). Red-shafted Northern Flickers (the western form of Colaptes auratus) have red/salmon shafts and are more common at higher elevations or in winter; in the low Sonoran Desert around Wickenburg they are less typical than Gilded.
Gilded Flickers are year-round residents in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, often nesting in saguaros and foraging on the ground for ants. Ants can make up the bulk of their diet, which is unusual among woodpeckers that more typically forage on tree trunks.
Grok AI contributed to this post.
I took the photo this morning using my new(ish) Canon EOS R10 camera as follows:
- Lens: Canon RF-S55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM
- Exposure: 1/400 seconds
- Aperture: F9
- ISO: 160
- Focal Length: 210mm
Click on the image to view enlarged in a new tab using the CB&D IMAGEVIEW®.