Duel

[Fabs Forns]

The poor Flickers didn't have a chance against the Staling gang. They had a number of body to body and finally had to give up the tree. Shame, we fell so bad for them. Very difficult to catch this fast little birds with a 600mm and very little light :eek:
The Flicker's bill is full of starling feathers.
I have a video of him working the nest in between fights:

http://birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=60521

1d4, 600/4,
f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 2000

[Kim Rollins]

Fabs -

Good capture of the birds in action and neat the flicker has grabbed some feather too. It is just to bad the Starling were introduced over here. They are to me they are such nasty oily birds and a nuisance here for sure. They make me angry when they try to take the other birds nest & being located where I am here in the rural west I am able to send them a .22 caliber pellet and I feel no guilt about that. 50 plus hit the ground in the last few days and yet still they are coming in large numbers.

I also watched your video of the Flicker working the nest and found that interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Nice action filled frame Fabs, The blur on their wings add to the action well....

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Awesome capture Fab and I love the pose on the flicker. The blur in the wings of the European starling really gives a sense of the intense action going on. What a day !!!!!!

[Reza Gorji]

Fabs: I love the action and composition. Beautifully done.

[Grace Scalzo]

Intense action, well done, Fabs. Sorry to hear the outcome. Starlings sure do make it hard on our native birds.

[Jay Tan]

Very interesting behaviour captured. If the Starling's head is more turned towards you with his eye visible, it'll be even better.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very cool, love the interaction. still good details given 1/640sec ss, TFS!!!

[Mark Dumbleton]

Lovely interaction captured here Fabs. Super exposure and timing!
I like the movement in the wings!

[Paul Lagasi]

Love the image, really shows how brilliantly colored flickers are, nice action between flicker and starling...TFS

[Hendri Venter]

Always nice to see interaction between different species. This is very well captured with outstanding IQ.