Youngsters
get to know the young hero and the adventures
that carry him toward manhood. As they come to know Jeremiah as a friend who would
understand their own growing pains, they look forward to each book in the
series.
Teachers
will Achieve..
Teachers will appreciate the ways
that Jeremiah Stokely novels, kits, and activities make literature
meaningful to children. Teachers can download free classroom idea
packets to hold a hand-on workshop based on each book.
Click the >Play button
to listen to the bird's song!
Northern
Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Length 12½ in., wingspan 20
in., Family Picidae
The flicker is actually a
woodpecker, but it has the most outrageous plumage of them all. There are
two races of this species, Yellow-Shafted and Red-Shafted. On both, back and
wings are brown with black bars, head gray, rump white, tail black, with a
black crescent on a speckled breast. Then it gets interesting. The male
Yellow-Shafted has a red crescent on the back of its neck and a black
“moustache.” In flight, both genders of Yellow-Shafted flash a surprise of
bright yellow on the undersides of wings and tail. Red-shafted Flickers have
pale salmon “red” underneath their wings and tail, and the male has a red
“moustache.”
Unlike most woodpeckers,
flickers feed on the ground, primarily on ants. During courtship, the male
flicker displays his wings, drums on trees or fence posts, and calls loudly
to the female. Then the pair hollow out a nest hole in a tree. The female
lays five to eight white eggs, and both parents take turns incubating them
and feeding the hatched young.
Flickers are found in the entire
United States year-round, except in the Dakotas and the northern halves of
Minnesota and Wisconsin, where they are seen only in summer. In the south,
they are called “yellowhammer.” The Yellow-Shafted Flicker is the state bird
of Alabama.
