Red-Shafted Flicker Coloptes cafer A common flicker found in the western portions of North America. Red-Shafted feed on insects found in trees and they also scratch for insects, especially ants, on the ground. The Chumash Indians of central California made very elaborate headresses from the feathers of the flicker. This young flicker was trying to make the most of a leaky water faucet at Lake San Antonio, Monterey County, California.