It is also known as the Yellow-shafter Flicker. It gets its name from the yellow feathers on the underneath side of its tail. We think that it got this name, the Yellow-shafted Flicker, back during the days of the Confederate war. There was a regiment of Confederate soldiers called the yellow hammers that wore yellow bandanas around their necks, hence the name. This is also the state bird of Alabama. It is insectivorous and prefers ants. Like all woodpeckers, it is a cavity nester and has to have standing rotten trees in order to survive. It has a high call in which it mimics its name, "flicker, flicker."