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Flicker; Golden-winged Woodpecker
Adult male--Upper parts grayish brown, with narrow bars of black; rump white; tail black, with yellow shafts; head gray, with a scarlet band across the neck and black patch below eye; primaries black above, with yellow shafts, and yellow beneath; under parts light pinkish brown, shading into whitish on the belly, with numerous black spots; black crescent across upper part of breast.
Adult female--Has no black below the eye. Length--12.00.
Breeding Range--Throughout the Eastern States.
The eggs are white, and vary greatly in number, from 4 to 9 being common numbers; they are laid in holes excavated by the birds themselves, in natural cavities, and in deserted holes made either by their own species or by other woodpeckers. Any tree may be chosen, but the apple tree is perhaps the favourite. Size--1.10 x .90.
The Golden-winged Woodpecker is one of the most handsomely coloured and best known of the Eastern woodpeckers, nearly every orchard containing a pair or more during the breeding season, which beings early in May. The nests may be found within four feet of the ground, but more frequently from ten to twenty-five and sometimes as much as sixty feet high; dead stumps or almost any sort of tree may be chosen. Probably no other woodpecker found in the Eastern States will use an old deserted nest; the golden-winged, however, does so frequently. When a new hole is to be made, both male and female take turns at excavating, the work being done at odd times during the day, and not only in the early morning and evening, which are the working times of the downy woodpecker. This unfortunate bird is subjected to various nicknames, some of which are misnomers, such as the name "Yellow-hammer," which is the name of a European bunting (Emberiza citrinella); and some of the names given him, such as "Flicker," "High-hole," "Wood-cock," "Pigeon Woodpecker," and "Clape," are not altogether appropriate, and certainly not euphonious.
The nesting season near New York begins early in May.