Northern Flickers in Kansas

Northern Flickers live in Kansas all year. Cold, dry winters with strong wind; windbreaks and evergreens are prime roost cover. That makes the cold months the time your yard matters most to them: their winter diet shifts toward poison ivy, dogwood, sumac and bayberry fruit.

Continental — humid tallgrass Flint Hills in the east to semi-arid shortgrass prairie in the west.

Across Kansas, flickers typically nest from April–June. Nest site: excavated cavity in dead or soft trees and utility poles. Females lay 5–8 eggs, incubate for 11–13 days, and young leave the nest after 24–27 days.

Hot summers above 95°F; western Kansas is dry, so water draws birds from far away.

• Have boxes cleaned and mounted before March — flickers begin prospecting ahead of egg-laying.
• Use a 2 1/2 in entrance on a 7 × 7 in floor, mounted 6–20 ft.
• Fit a pole baffle or hole guard; ventilation gaps and drainage holes are essential.
• Clean out old nests after each brood and again after June.

Of the regional native plants we track for Kansas, these 8 provide food or cover flickers use:

Flickers feed on lawns more than any other woodpecker and will use nest boxes packed with wood chips.

• Best foods: Suet, Peanut hearts.
• In Kansas's winter: Cold, dry winters with strong wind; windbreaks and evergreens are prime roost cover.

Full diet breakdown for flickers · Best feeder for flickers