Nuttall's Woodpecker (male)

A common woodpecker in the Kern Valley area but not neccessarily easy to photograph.

Self Critique: I don't like shooting into bright skies so the blue bothers me some: contrast and values are acceptable: not quite on eye-level.

there was considerable PP to pull out details in the darks, esp. in the wings. I use a different method for dodging and burning: I create a layer; in the drop-down for "mode" I select "fill with soft light" and then check the box "fill with soft light". Set the palate to default "black - white" ; select brush and make sure that fill is set to 7% and flow no better than 17%. This method affects mostly the gamma channel and allows for a very gradual build up of either darks or lights. Other choices such as multiply, dodge and colour burn can still be incorporated. This layer can then be blended with the underlying layers to get desired effects.

EXIF
Camera: Canon 30D
Lense: Canon EF 500 IS L
Mode: manual
Metering: partial
ISO: 400
White bal: custom 5300K
Exposure: 1/2000 @ f 8.0; fill flash -1/16 power, better beamer extender

Let me hear what you think;

You have an interesting PP method, which I will try out myself sometime. :) I like the image, not so the blue I guess, but still a really nice clean background. What I would perhaps change is the little bit of sky showing in the top left. I personally would crop, though that would bring the feet close to the edge, or second choice to clone some trunk into the blue. (I would still prefer to have the feet closer to the edge).

Great find details and eye contact. I don't mind the angle, just wish for a bit bill/trunk separation. Could you have moved to your left? The shadows look a bit noisy, did you dial in some exposure compensation?