Avian Image of the Week for the week ending October 12th, 2012: Shawn Zierman - Northern Flicker

Congratulations Shawn!

When you think you know, you might find that you don't...
That's what I learned on the morning that this image was made. How many times had I tried before to approach this
species, only to have them fly away... Yet on this morning, with no less than a dozen flickers spread out on this field, hammering
away at the recently thawed ground, and nearly all of them as tame as juvenile shorebirds, it was as if I was invisible. I slowly
crawled my way to several different birds and was allowed to briefly enter their world. Of course there were reasons...hunger, exhaustion
from migration, and so on...but I also want to believe there was something else...something unseen, unknown,....unexplainable.
I suspect several that read this will know exactly what I mean, even if words can't quite convey it...
SonyA300, Sigma50/500, iso400, 1/640, f10, cropped, adjusted contrast and saturation, selective NR to the bg, USM.
(Image made in Duluth, Minnesota during spring migration a few years back).
Comments and critiques welcome,
Regards,
Shawn Zierman.

A well deserved winner for IOTW. Congratulations Shawn!

Super image, Shawn. Huge congrats on this one. Lovely light, pose and colors.

Shawn, I missed this when you presented it originally, so glad it won IOW and I got to see it. Everything about it is sweet, but I think that it's the light, and in the intimacy of the image that really makes it sing. Congrats.

Congratulations, Shawn, this is a special image deserving of accolades.

Well done Shawn! Congrats on IOTW!

Heartiest congratulations!!!

Regards,
Satish.

Well done Shawn, confess I didn't see this one before....my loss it seems