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Gilded Flicker | Colaptes chrysoides
Geelvleugelgrondspecht | Carpintero collarejo
The Gilded Flicker is the flicker of the Sonoran Desert. In the guide area it lives in Sonora, northern Sinaloa and most of Baja California, where it excavates its nest in columnar cacti such as saguaro and cardón.
Voice
A long, fast series wik-wik-wik-wik, a single loud klee-yer and a soft wicka-wicka during encounters.
Recording: Scott Crabtree — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
26–30 cm. Crown cinnamon brown, face grey. The male has a red moustachial stripe, the female none. The back is pale brown with narrow black barring; there is a black crescent on the breast and the rest of the underparts are pale buff with black spots. The underside of the wings and tail is yellow; the tail is largely black from below. White rump in flight.
Confusion species
Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus has salmon-red wing and tail shafts in Mexico, a brownish-grey crown and less black under the tail, and lives in mountain forest; in winter it also reaches the lowlands, and intergrades occur where the two species meet. Gila Woodpecker Melanerpes uropygialis shares its habitat but has a black-and-white barred back, a plain greyish-brown head and no black breast band.
Habitat
Cactus desert with columnar cacti, especially saguaro and cardón, and dry thorn scrub; locally also riparian cottonwood woodland in the desert. It excavates its nest in a columnar cactus and forages on the cacti, in shrubs and on the ground for ants and other insects.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Baja California from the middle of the peninsula to the Cape region, most of Sonora and extreme northern Sinaloa. Outside the guide area in southern Arizona and very locally in south-eastern California.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Common in the cardón forest around La Paz in Baja California Sur and on the saguaro plains around Hermosillo in Sonora; often seen perched on top of a columnar cactus.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Widespread in Mexico, but dependent on large columnar cacti, which are lost to clearing and fire.
Scientific name
Colaptes chrysoides | (Malherbe, 1852)
Malherbe described the species in 1852 as Geopicus (Colaptes) chrysoides; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Colaptes was introduced in 1825 by Vigors. Colaptes is Greek kolaptēs 'chiseller', from kolaptō 'to peck, to chisel', after the hacking into wood. chrysoides is Greek, from khrusos 'gold' and -oidēs 'resembling': 'golden', after the yellow underwings and tail shafts. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico.