Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XVII · Topic 2: Bird study: birds to know
17. The flicker
Goal: Your child can recognize the flicker on the ground and in flight by its white rump patch, and explain why this woodpecker hunts in the grass.
You'll need
- Binoculars
- A lawn, meadow or park with ant hills
- A bird book or app with the flicker's call
- Colored pencils
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
The leading thought, the method (September, when young flickers are not yet wary; a few questions at a time in the field) and nine questions about where it is found, telling it from the meadow-lark, trapping ants, size and colors, the white patch, its note, nest, young and many names. A passage from Burroughs on the high-hole's drumming follows.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Comstock suggests September, when young flickers are about and not yet shy. Spring and summer work too. Look on lawns, meadows, parks and golf courses for a big brown bird poking at the ground. In the East flickers have yellow under the wings; in the West, red.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The flicker is a true woodpecker but has changed its habits and spends much of its time in meadows hunting for ants and other insects; it makes its nest in trees, like its relatives.
Find it on the ground
Where do you find the flicker in the summer and early autumn?
What is it doing in the meadows? How does it manage to trap ants?
Watch it poke its long beak into an ant hill. Its tongue is long and sticky.
Size and colors
What is the size of the flicker as compared to the robin?
Describe the colors of the flicker as follows: Top and sides of the head, back of the neck, lower back, tail, wings, throat and breast.
Look for the black crescent on the breast and the spots below it.
The white patch
Walk slowly toward it until it flies, then stop.
Does the patch of white above the tail show, except when the bird is flying? Of what use is this to the bird?
Voice and names
What is the flicker's note? At what time of spring do you hear it first?
How many names do you know for the flicker?
Comstock's table of contents calls it the yellow-hammer, and Burroughs calls it the high-hole.
Put it into words
Ask your child how the flicker is like other woodpeckers and how it is different. Then share the leading thought.
Nature notebook
Draw a flicker from behind in flight, showing the white rump patch. Add the colored underwing your child saw: yellow or red.
Afterwards
Keep a list of every name you hear for the flicker this month. Ask grandparents and neighbors too.
Tip
This lesson pairs well with the next one. Comstock wants children to tell the flicker from the meadow-lark in flight.