Question: What bird found in Collier County is the most prolific avian ant eater in the world?
Answer: That distinction belongs to the Northern Flicker.
It is common and widespread in dry, wooded areas below the tree line where nest sites and open ground for feeding occur together.
Unlike other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker forages mainly on the ground where it is a voracious eater of ants. It will occasionally eat seeds, acorns, nuts, and grain, but ants are its preferred food.