A bird that’s both beautiful and beneficial in many ways

A handy solution to ant invasions



 

Here’s a tongue-twister for you:

“Flitting fitfully across the fescue was a flock of flickers.”

The flickers are birds, and they were parading about on the lawn at Russell Park in the Westlake area of Thousand Oaks, spearing their favorite delicacy: ants. These are northern flickers, also known as western “red-shafted” flickers.

A number of Acorn readers who’d happened upon one of my recent columns about home-invading ants had asked me for a remedy, and it might be to entice flickers to patrol your property.

According to one field guide, the northern flicker “consumes more ants than any other North American bird. Its tongue extends nearly 3 inches beyond its beak, making it ideally suited to this purpose.”

Of course, it’s a bit of a task to get a wild creature to do our bidding. But strange as it may sound, flickers enjoy being on the ground pursuing their No. 1 menu item. So this is one very admirable species for me and my fellow ant-harried friends to welcome and encourage.

The fact that this member of the woodpecker family can be a bit insistent with its “drumming” is of no consequence, as long as the bird is knocking back oodles of ants between rat-a-tat antics.

Woodpeckers, including the northern flicker, “announce their territory by rapidly drumming their bill against a hollow tree or other resonant object,” according to another field guide.

What initially drew my attention to the tongue-twister-inspiring flickers was not their noble gesture of devouring kitchen-breaching, picnic-ruining ants. It was actually the beauty of the flicker’s plumage. Previously I’d only seen a northern flicker from afar, catching a glimpse of its exciting coloration as it alighted on a branch high in the upper reaches of a street tree.

But at Russell Park, the flickers were truly flitting in the fescue, doing a bird version of the bunny hop as they targeted their fast-scattering bounty. For any homeowner victimized by massive ant invasions, this has got to be a gleeful sight, witnessing the buggy persecutors getting their comeuppance.

Busy at their meal-gathering at ground level, the flickers were easily visible. Their “base coat” of color is a soft gray (head and neck) and soft dun (body). A flicker’s breast is imprinted with dark dots. Lots and lots of dots, very symmetrically laid out on a medium-size bird as if an artist of great patience and skill had painstakingly swirled the fine hairs of their paintbrush just so to render this meticulous and riveting leopard-like pattern.

Where there aren’t dots there are dark wavy ripples on the bird’s back, plus a “white rump patch,” if you’ll pardon the expression.

In flight, the coral-orange of the flicker’s underwings and undertail creates a vivid surprise for birdwatchers. Both male and female flickers wear black bibs, but only the male has a bold scarlet mustache.

Glasser is a freelance writer and local nature enthusiast. Reach her at whirlawaygig@gmail.com.