Northern Flicker in Tree Hole.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A male Northern Flicker looks out of a possible nest hole to check out the surroundings below.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/125s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld (braced on tree), cropped for comp, eye work, a few highlights in the BG blended in via clone tool.

[Shawn Zierman]

Sweet. I like the poplar bark on this....looks like an old pileated woodpecker hole, as it is obviously much larger than the flicker and the inside tree does not look fresh...simple effective composition and great hand held work with that much focal length.

[Bill Nuttall]

Yep - really good - a stunning view of the bird

[Karl Egressy]

Beautiful background and excellent sharp head with just the right amount of tern, Daniel.
The ones I'm keeping an eye on, already feed the chicks but they are not strong enough to stick their head out yet, the chicks that is.

[Marina Scarr]

Super image of the male at the cavity. You have a lovely BG here. It'll be good when they feed the chicks.

This was my nemesis nesting woodpecker until earlier this week!!! It's tough to tell when they have chicks b/c their nesting and rearing behavior is so different from other woodpeckers. Keep a look out for the young. They start climbing the walls of the cavity at 17 days. The adults regurgitate their food unlike our other FL woodpeckers, so the feedings are quite long which is great for photography. Can't wait to see more.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks for the info Marina! There is actually an active Pileated Woodpecker nest with three babies 50 feet from this one and they behave as you describe for the flickers...the parents regurgitate, and this often provides opportunities of 20-30 seconds per round. Lots of fun:S3:. Stay tuned for sure....

[Grace Scalzo]

Fantastic portrait, Daniel. DOF is perfect as is your green background. I wonder if you took any verticals? Looking forward to the evolution of this story.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Killer details and I love the nest cavity. Nicely composed too. Lovely image Daniel, and I too am looking forward to more.

[gail bisson]

Love the IQ of the bird.
Very nice Daniel and no nits from me! ( That doesn't happen very often:bg3:!)
Gail

[Lorant Voros]

Super IQ and nice contrast between BG and tree..that is very characteristic as well. Great work, Dan.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I could see this as a vertical too. Lovely sharpness and details.
Great work.