It's Wetlands Wednesday! Flickers vs. Starlings

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) Colaptes auratus

Male Northern Flicker Photo Credit: Shiva Shenoy

Female Northern Flicker Photo Credit: Joseph Gage

According to The Cornell Lab, northern flickers (AKA common flickers) are a "large woodpecker with a black bib and spotted belly. Males in the East have a red nape, a black whisker, and yellow shafts on the flight and tail feathers. Often sits sideways on branches, unlike other woodpeckers. Note yellow underside of tail; (Yellow-shafted) females lack the black mustache mark of males." Most are here year round though some migrate to breed north, even into the Alaskan interior. Listen to the Northern Flicker Learn More

Adult Starling Sturnus vulgaris

Photo Credit: Bernard Spragg

Starlings appear black in summer from afar but have iridescent purple and green especially on their wings. White spots emerge all over their bodies in winter. They are also recognized by their noisy, hyperactive behavior. Starlings, a non-native species, were brought from Europe to North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for insect control. Large flocks roost communally but tend to spread out to feed daily.

Fun Fact: The oldest starling recorded in North America lived to be 15 years, 3 months. The state of Tennessee had originally banded the male bird in 1958, the same state in which he died. Learn More Listen to the Starling

Rumor has it starlings were "introduced into America from England when forty pairs were released in Central Park in 1890, on the initiative of a certain Eugene Schieffelin, who had the silly idea of bringing into America all the fifty or so birds mentioned in Shakespeare." Source

Juvenile Starling

Photo Credit: Hedera Baltica

Bonus Fact! Starlings will chase Flickers out of contested territory and fight them for the nest. "Starlings are able to severely injure what would seem to be a formidable foe in the confines of the nest box or cavity. Flickers just don't seem to know how to use their powerful beaks in battle. This is likely because they didn't co-evolve with starlings." Learn More NOTE: Visitors to Siebenthaler Fen or Beaver Creek Wildlife Area (ODNR sites) should wear bright clothing in hunting season. Prime hunting season runs from about September 1st through January. 

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Beaver Creek Wetlands Association 1999 Dayton-Xenia Road Beavercreek, Ohio 45432 www.beavercreekwetlands.org

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