Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

When you think of woodpeckers, you probably picture them drumming their sturdy bills against a tree, chipping away at bark to reveal grubs and other tasty treats underneath. The Northern Flicker, though, is a bit of an exception; the species often prefers to hunt on the ground, where it catches ants and beetles. Like many woodpeckers, it has a long, barbed tongue. The barbs point back at the bird, and snag insect prey like so many tiny fish hooks.

This poster features the Red-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus cafer), the western subspecies of Northern flicker. Seen in profile, the Red-shafted and (eastern) Yellow-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus auratus) aren’t all that distinct from one another. It’s when you see the birds in flight, with their underwings and undertail in view, that the different colorations are most obvious. A flyby Red-shafted flicker will flash a rusty red-orange (think of the Golden Gate Bridge), whereas the Yellow-shafted presents a mustard yellow. Even though the more obvious differences between the subspecies aren’t visible in profile and so don’t jump out in the color column, I will create a poster for the Yellow-Shafted flicker. 🤓

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.