As some of you may know, I have been monitoring about 35 nest boxes on three Bluebird Trails going on seven years now. Over the past six years I have fledged 6 House Wrens …
24 White-breasted Nuthatches …
86 Tree Swallows …
114 Oak Titmice …
and 400 Western Bluebirds!
Three years ago I placed two Northern Flicker (Collaptes auratus) nest boxes on a couple of oak trees on my property, hoping to attract a pair of nesting Flickers.
They’re pretty easy to make with one ten foot length of 2X8 as seen in this diagram. I skipped the hinges on the box lid and simply screwed it on. I packed the box with cedar shavings, simulating a snag with decaying wood on the inside, and I waited. Three years I waited. Then, a couple of weeks ago, my wife is looking out the window and says “hey, what’s going on out there in that tree?” It looked like it was snowing. The male Red-shafted Flicker was tossing the shavings out the entrance! I ran to get my video camera but it was too late. He was done excavating the cavity in the box.
The male will beckon the female to the nest site with a ritual tapping at the cavity. In this case he is calling her from the inside of the nest box.
Both sexes participate in cavity excavation, but the male plays the dominant role. The female lays 6 to 8 smooth, glossy white eggs which both adults incubate for 11 to 13 days. Except in rare cases, the male does all nighttime incubation, switching with his mate just after sunrise and just before sunset. I removed the lid after the female left the nest box to get this shot of the eggs, just before sunset.
I’m looking forward to documenting the nesting of my first pair of Northern Flickers raising a brood in my Flicker Box!
Really cool Larry, thanks for putting up so many artificial cavities.
Thank you for the nest box plans. How high up did you site it?
Great work!
It’s a bit of work monitoring all of them but it is so much fun watching the little ones grow and leave the nest it’s well worth the effort!
You are welcome Beth! There are several nest box plans on my blog here
This Flicker box is mounted about 10 feet up. You can find a nest box specification document here
Thanks Clare and Grant! Monitoring nest boxes is a very rewarding endeavor.
I recently mounted a screech owl box after hearing them frequently in my neighborhood (out of season.) today I looked up to find a flicker looking back at me! I’m surprised to find one nesting this late in the season although I know it does not mean it will raise a brood anytime soon.
Over the past 10 years, I have built around 8 bird boxes for various species and our tall A-frame home occupies another 6 unreachable nests. The nesting birds are typically wrens, tree swallows, starlings, chickadees, and robins. I clean out my homemade nests each year per instructions from the birding professionals.
Three years ago I built a northern flicker nest. No activity the first two years, accept a pair nested in my a-frame house, year two and three. Year three(fall 2019) my homemade box was finally occupied by a lone flicker for the entire winter. Spring time two males? were courting the occupant for several days. No evidence of nestlings. She? has made this a year round home.
Do I need to clean the nest? It should be noted, my box is only 27″ high with similar widths and depths of the above plans. I never put saw dust in it. Obviously, I am not a professional birder, just a bird lover. Thanks for your advice.
Hi Larry – is it possible to get your permission to use the phot of the flicker eggs in a book for kids we are writing?
Larry, I’m a first time author, trying to help folks with a book called building, bird, friendly, bird houses. As part of that, we’re trying to show photos of the eggs for the target species. I’m needing a photo for my northern flicker box. Would it be possible to obtain rights, in a good image do use from you. Also, what would you want in the way of compensation. If you could let me know, I would sincerely appreciate it as I’m about to resort to have my wife trying to draw those and that won’t be good for family relations. Thanks so much for your help.