The Northern Flicker is a woodpecker that is often seen feeding on ants living in the ground or in very rotted wood. Like other woodpeckers, it excavates a nest cavity, but its bill is more adapted for digging for ants than it is for excavating in wood – it is relatively longer and more curved than that of other woodpeckers – to accommodate the long tongue that it uses to secure ants. It may excavate its cavities in very rotted wood, but will also excavate a nest cavity in the ground or in Styrofoam -- such as sometimes used in roof edging.
The Northern Flicker seen in Florida is of a race known as the Yellow-shafted Flicker because of the yellow color that dominates its spread wings. The name “flicker” comes from a common vocalization that Northern Flickers loudly give wherever they are found: “Flicka, Flicka, Flicka.”