Gilded Flicker

The Gilded Flicker is a large ground-foraging woodpecker of the Sonoran and lower Colorado desert, closely tied to saguaro cactus for nest cavities. It resembles other flickers in shape and posture but carries the golden-yellow flight-feather color typical of desert populations rather than the pinkish-red of nearby Northern Flicker races.

It is often seen bounding across open desert floor probing for ants, then flying up to a saguaro arm or utility pole, flashing a bright rump patch and yellow underwings as it goes.

• Flight feathers: golden-yellow shafts and undersides of the wing and tail, visible in flight or on a spread wing
• Back and wings: black bars on a warm brown ground color
• Crown: plain grayish-tan, without the gray nape/red nape marks of Northern Flicker
• Face: males show a black mustache stripe; females lack it
• Vs. Northern Flicker (red-shafted): red-shafted birds show salmon-pink flight feather color and a gray face with brown crown, not the golden tone of this species
• Rump: white patch visible in flight, shared with other flickers

Both sexes show a barred brown-and-black back and spotted buffy-tan underparts with a black crescent bib on the breast. Males have a black malar stripe that females lack. Juveniles resemble adults but with looser, duller barring. There is a single annual molt after the breeding season, with flight feathers replaced gradually so the bird retains flight capability throughout.

Resident of low desert scrub, arid flats, and desert riparian corridors of Arizona, southeastern California, and northwestern Mexico, wherever tall saguaro or other large columnar cacti are present for nesting. It does not migrate and occupies the same territory year-round, sometimes moving short distances to washes or towns in the hottest months.

Forages mostly on the ground, walking and hopping while probing soil and leaf litter for ants and other insects, unlike many woodpeckers that concentrate on tree trunks. Pairs excavate a new nest cavity in a saguaro or occasionally a tree each season, and the resulting holes are later reused by many other desert species. Its call is a loud, sustained "wick-wick-wick" series, and it also drums on resonant dead wood or metal to advertise territory.