Recently, while horseback riding in the woods, I spotted a handful of brilliant yellow feathers on the ground. Struck by the unexpected slash of color against the brown leaves, I ...

If there’s one species that changed the American world of birds, it’s the yellow-shafted flicker. As recently as the 1920s, birdwatching was largely done with shotguns rather than binoculars.

One fine April morning in 1919, an 11-year-old boy named Roger Tory Peterson was exploring a natural area in Jamestown, New York. He happened along what appeared to be a clump of dead feathers stuck ...

Claim to fame: In birding circles, the northern flicker has a unique claim to fame: It’s the only woodpecker that does most of its feeding on the ground when ants and other insects are available.