Even if you wouldn’t know what it was if it landed on your shoulder, you’ve probably heard the northern flicker’s distinctive drumming in spring. It sounds something like a hammer drill and drives ...

Northern flickers are large, brown woodpeckers with black-scalloped plumage that live year-round in Nevada. Their brown plumage is richly patterned with black spots, bars and crescents. The ...

I was sitting in solitude earlier this summer in an Adirondack chair in my backyard, when I realized I wasn’t as alone as I’d thought. Thanks to the app I’d just downloaded on my phone — the popular ...

Clinging to tree bark, the Northern Flicker — with its cryptic brownish back with black horizontal stripes — can be hard to spot. Fix binoculars on the robin-sized body of this species and a stunning ...

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Matthew Medler of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology about the best bird sounds of 2025 from their vast collection of recordings, and why their selections made the list.