Unlike most other woodpeckers, Northern Flickers are principally ground feeders, though they also forage on tree trunks and limbs. They have a strongly undulating flight pattern, and they can be easily identified in flight by this pattern and their prominent white rumps.

Northern Flickers play an important role in bio diverse farm ecosystems by excavating nesting and roosting holes that are subsequently used by other beneficial birds, animals, and reptiles. Northern Flickers eat mainly insects, especially ants and beetles that they gather from the ground.