Flickers (the bird) eat a diet of almost exclusively ants. They are cavity
nesters and have been displaced in many areas by European starlings (also
cavity nesters). If you look around online, you can find plans for nesting
boxes for flickers (if they occur in your area--I know they are found in most
of the U.S.). That might not help your problem this year, but if the problem
is an ongoing lack of ant predators, perhaps it could help you next year.
Kelly