Northern Flicker
Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
D300 ... 200-400 VR ,1.4 TC
1/400s f/8.0 at 440.0mm iso200
Hide, tripod, natural light, slight crop
My third summer trying to catch a decent frame of this species, and finally my luck was with me the other night, as the sun was going down behind me... These birds are very skittish around here, much like a belted kingfisher... a tough catch! What a cool bird!
Beautiful, Ray, I've never been close to one!
I'd like to see it little lighter maybe.
Congrats on catching him :)
Ray, I know what you mean about skittish northern flickers - they are very hard to image and you've done a great job here. I agree with Fabs that the bird could be a little lighter, and hope you don't mind the attached repost. I selected the bird and upped the exposure slightly. Thanks for the post. You give me heart that it is possible to get a close-up photo of a flicker!
A wonderfully sharp image. Lovely light and an excellent re-post. Love the BKGR (except for the darker area adjacent to the bird and the light area llc).
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thanks everyone.. I appreciate your effort Keith, excellent re-post.
Great capture Ray! I captured many images of these, but never with this excellent POV. Gorgeous light, too! I agree with Artie on the darker area to right of the bird, and would probably blend it out if mine. Very minor thing, though. Fantastic image of a somewhat timid species.
very nice pose, soft light and BKGR:)
The repost is a tag better in terms of the whites.
Very nice, and the repost is an improvement. I would also brighten the highlight in the eye.
Last winter I had a Northern Flickr that came right up to the window feeder that hung on the glass panel of my back door. Every morning you'd hear him hammering away on the guttering before he'd descend to partake of the sunflower kernels in my lucite window feeder.
He was right there outside the glass feeding when a Cooper's hawk swooped down, flung itself into the window/door, grabbed the flcker in it's claws and then bounced off the side of the house to turn and land on the ground below my deck where it waited for it's kill to die.
So, yeah, now I understand why this bird is so skittish. Apparently it's at the top of the gourmet food chain. :eek:
Gorgeous pose and composition. The lightened bird in the repost looks great. Sharp detail and beautiful light. Great capture.
Stunning image Ray I love everything about it. Well Done!
Beautiful shot Ray and the BG is perfect for the Flicker....this is my first post here and its nice to see lots of familiar names!
Scott
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