Northern Flicker Intergrades

Before we jump into the diluted Northern Flicker, let's review the definition of intergrade vs hybrid. An intergrade is the product of two subspecies or subspecies groups, and a hybrid is the product of two species. We discussed this in our post on Yellow-rumped Warbler intergrades, found here.

While this article will be written with a Wyoming-skew, the information here likely applies to Northern Flickers throughout their range.

The Northern Flicker, a common woodpecker found throughout North America, is often recognized by its brightly colored wings, or their ear-piercing screams (mostly banders and rehabbers experience this). Or possibly... by the mango-sized holes they leave in your eaves. (Until you placed a fake owl costing $19.99 plus tax from your local Home Depot. Then, said owl did not work, leaving a patchwork of boards screwed all over the sides of your home and a black hole of anger towards woodpeckers, in your heart.) While the species might be easily recognized locally, bird-lovers from the east might not quickly decipher a Northern Flicker in the west. The reason? There are over eleven subspecies of Northern Flicker, and the two main subspecies groups for the lower 48, look wildly different.

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Two Northern Flicker Subspecies Groups

The two groups most birders are familiar with are the Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker (auratus group) and the Red-shafted Northern Flicker (cafer group). Those are the main focus for today's post; mostly because the average reader could care less about the other two groups. Moving your gaze downward, you will see a rudimentary breakdown of the range of each subspecies group in the lower 48. The map gives you, the reader, an idea of what subspecies group you should expect to see on an average day in most of your state. Red state means expect red-shafted individuals, and yellow state means expect yellow-shafted individuals.

Expected Northern Flicker subspecies group based on location

If you are curious what the giant orange blob represents, it is an oblivion of knowledge. A succubus of hopeful identification. It is the zone of intergradation. The zone of intergradation is the area where these two subspecies groups meet, copulate, and produce babies that will not fit nicely into either group. If this scares you, fear no more (or slightly less)! I am here to tell you about the infinite possibilities of morphological characteristics found in intergrades. First, you need to know what base characteristics can distinguish the two subspecies groups.

Four Base Characteristics

1. Malar Color

2. Face Color

3. Nape Pattern

4. Flight Feather Color (Wing & tail)

Northern Flicker Subspecies ID Marks

Those four characteristics are straightforward for non-intergrades. Now, look at some of the possibilities for an intergrade.

Helpful, Isn't It?

OOOFF. That was a sucker punch! Absolutely zero help. You should just quit reading now. ORRR, check out these examples from northeast Wyoming, below!

Two Northern Flicker Intergrades. The left individual has a black malar stripe, gray face, faint red crescent, and orangeish-yellow flight feathers. The right individual has a red malar stripe, red crescent, buffy face, and orangeish-red flight feathers.

Density of red in nape crescent. Left individual has black malar and right individual has red malar.

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Black Malar Individual - Feather color more yellow than orange or red.

Red Malar Individual - Feather color more orangeish than yellow (though not much).

Be honest. If you saw the left bird, with the black malar, fly by very quickly, would you consider it a Yellow-shafted Flicker? I would. Especially without photos! How do we know from these photos that it is an intergrade? Walk through our four points:

1. Malar - Black

2. Face - Gray

3. Nape - Red Crescent (faint)

4. Feathers - Orangeish-yellow

Two features stand out, face color and feather color. On a true Yellow-shafted Flicker, we would expect a warm, buffy face. Additionally, the flight feathers would be more true yellow. The right bird should be more obvious, but I will walk through that bird as well:

1. Malar - Red

2. Face - Buffy

3. Nape - Red Crescent

4. Feathers - Yellowish-orange

Ready to try your own birds? Here are three individuals for you to try your newfound skills on! Answers to this quiz can be found HERE.

Bird 1

Bird 1 - Tail

Bird 2 - Head Only

Bird 3

Bird 3 - Tail

How do you think you did? There are more photos of these individuals, plus some interesting information, in the answer area in the forum. You can find those HERE.

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