Occurrence and Feeding Ecology of the Common Flicker on Grand Cayman Island

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Abstract
Grand Cayman flickers (C. auratus gundlachi) are resident throughout Grand Cayman in suitable habitat, from mangrove to dense limestone forests. The birds forage primarily for arboreal ants [Camponotus, Solenopsis, monomorium, Paracryptocerus, Paratrechina, and Formica] and termites [Rhinotermitidae and Kalotermitidae], obtaining their food mainly by pecking (64%) into rotting branches. Mainland (Florida [USA]) flickers obtain 75% of their food by foraging on the ground. Formicid ants and other insects in the predominant Grand Cayman forests are uncommon on the ground but abundant in the trees. No woodpeckers specialized for excavating wood are present on Grand Cayman, and it appears that the elsewhere terrestrial flicker has here occupied an arboreal foraging niche.

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