Five to ten eggs are laid in mid May and hatch in about 12 to 14 days. The young remain in the nest for another week or longer before flying. In early June you will see the young flickers looking out of the nest hole. Flickers feed on insects, including woodborers and beetles. They often feed on the ground, especially on ants, and you may see them scratching into an ant hill.
Grasshoppers are a favoured food in late summer.
You may also see flickers dusting themselves along roadsides and sandy paths. In folklore the woodpecker is the guardian of trees. It also has magical powers and you will have good luck if you see one on your right- hand side. In mythology the woodpecker is sacred to Thor, god of thunder, probably because of its loud drumming and its frequent calls which forecast rain. To some early people the woodpecker was symbol of storms, and to others it was the bird of war.