The Northern Flicker is a medium to large sized woodpecker grayish brown in color with a black crescent shape on its chest. The male has a black or red mustache; the female has either no mustache stripe or a brown one. While this woodpecker climbs trees and hammers on the wood like other woodpeckers, it also will use its bill to dig in the dirt to find and eat ants.

It can be found in open woodlands and at the edge of forests, cities and suburbs. The nest is a hole dug into a dead tree where the cavity is unlined.

Hanging the feeder from a tree branch or close to a tree trunk is optimal. Squirrel baffles are recommended.

They extend across North America and southward to Cuba and Central America.