[3] The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the northern flicker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was published between 1729 and 1732.

[4] When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he included the northern flicker, coined the binomial name Cuculus auratus and cited Catesby's book.

The repeated cycle of a quick succession of flaps followed by a pause creates an effect comparable to a roller coaster.

According to the Audubon field guide, "flickers are the only woodpeckers that frequently feed on the ground", probing with their beak, also sometimes catching insects in flight.

Northern flickers often break into underground ant colonies to get at the nutritious larvae there, hammering at the soil the way other woodpeckers drill into wood.

[16] The northern flicker is a natural predator of the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis), an invasive species of moth that costs the U.S. agriculture industry more than $1 billion annually in crop losses and population control.

According to an article published in Ibis, the availability of food affects the coloration of feathers in northern flicker nestlings.

The article focused on the correlation between melanin spots and carotenoid-based coloration on the wings of nestlings with food stress via indirect manipulation of brood size.

T-cell-mediated immune response was found to be positively correlated with brightness of pigmentation in flight feathers, but not related to melanin spot intensity.

[21] The northern flicker may be observed in open habitats near trees, including woodlands, edges, yards, and parks.

[23] A study from 2006 examined the mortality rates of male and female northern flickers over a six-year period using capture-tag-recapture techniques.

The northern flicker is sometimes driven away from its nesting site by other cavity nesters like the common starling (Sturnus vulgaris).

The northern flicker commonly breeds during the months of February to July, depending upon the temperature of the area.

[26] Additional territorial signs towards other males can be head swinging when in close proximity to another or repeatedly creating loud noises with their beaks.

[23] A typical clutch consists of six to eight eggs whose shells are pure white with a smooth surface and high gloss.

[23] The young are fed by regurgitation and fledge about 25 to 28 days after hatching.Northern flickers are partial migrants, in which some southern populations are completely non-migratory.

[29] This discrepancy likely arises from the northern flickers' ground foraging behavior, in which prey can only be found in snow-free locations.

[29] Furthermore, females tend to winter farther north than males, suggesting that parental investment and division of reproductive labour are key factors in determining individual migratory behavior.

[29] Rising temperatures resulting from anthropogenic climate change have been shown to trigger migration prematurely in Northern flickers, as well as many other migratory bird species as evidenced in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

[29] Individuals breeding in the prairie provinces of Canada, the Dakotas, and surrounding U.S. states winter in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

[33] Furthermore, breeding individuals exhibit intense site fidelity, with pairs consistently returning to the specific nest cavity they used in the previous year.