Distribution

Breeding Range

Within the United States, the Gilded Flicker breeds in southern Arizona and extreme southeastern California, extending sparingly north to northwestern Arizona (Corman and Wise-Gervais 2005 Corman, T. E., and C. Wise-Gervais (2005). Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, USA. Close ) and southernmost Nevada (Floyd et al. 2007 Floyd, T., C. S. Elphick, G. Chisholm, K. Mack, R. G. Elston, E. M. Ammon, and J. D. Boone (2007). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada. University of Nevada Press, Reno and Las Vegas, NV, USA. Close ). The breeding range extends south along the Pacific slope of northwestern Mexico through Sonora to northern Sinaloa, and throughout most of Baja California, except the northwestern portion (Howell and Webb 1995 Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb (1995). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press, New York, New York, USA. Close ).

Overwintering Range

This species is believed to be non-migratory (Dickey and van Rossem 1938 Dickey, D. R., and A. J. van Rossem (1938). The birds of El Salvador. Field Museum of Natural History Zoological Series, Chicago, IL, USA. Close , Short 1965b Short, L. L. (1965). Hybridization in the flickers (Colaptes) of North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 129:307–428. Close ), so overwintering and breeding ranges are similar.

No large-scale changes in distribution are known, but local occurrence has changed as a consequence of habitat alteration by humans. Gilded Flickers tend to avoid populated urban and rural neighborhoods, even where saguaros are retained in the landscaping; e.g., during the Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas, Gilded Flicker was notably absent in highly developed survey blocks in the greater Phoenix and adjacent agricultural areas (Corman and Wise-Gervais 2005 Corman, T. E., and C. Wise-Gervais (2005). Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, USA. Close ). Habitat degradation has led to the Gilded Flicker becoming rare to locally uncommon in most of the lower Colorado River valley (Rosenberg et al. 1991 Rosenberg, K. V., R. D. Ohmart, W. C. Hunter, and B. W. Anderson (1991). Birds of the Lower Colorado River Valley. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, USA. Close ).