Flickers on Summer Vacation

One bird conspicuous by its absence at my feeders is the Common Flicker. Since I began Birdcamming, my log book shows that these woodpeckers are entirely invisible for June through October. For whatever reasons, they readily accept suet deep into May (which might as well be deep summer here) but then abruptly vanish. Presumably "natural" foods reach some kind of critical mass by June 1st, or perhaps youngsters are fully fledged. The other woodpeckers don't echo this behavior: I see Downeys and Red Bellieds virtually every day in high summer. It is difficult to tell if they're around the neighborhood as I don't hear their calls when I'm in the yard. But they're so common I can't believe they're too far away. Whatever the cause, we'll have to do without for another two months and then, in all likelihood, the Flickers will return to demolishing suet cakes.