Northern Flicker (nesting/foraging).

[ShawnZ]

I consider this species to be one of our most beautiful birds.

Apologies to those who may have seen the nesting images in another forum, for you I will include a foraging image as

well All images from Duluth, Minnesota. SonyA300, Tokina 80-400mm, iso200-400, f10, various shutter speeds, fill flash on two of the three images, cropped, some levels adjustmetns, USM. The picture of the flicker on the ground depicts a bird that had found some ants to eat, and they must have been good because he was'nt going anywhere Very unusual, in my experience, this was that one flicker out of a hundred that did not flush the second it saw a camera

Comments and critiques welcome.

Regards,

Shawn Zierman.

[Dbl]

Very nice work Shawn! That last shot is a real beauty!

[Steve Foss]

Sweet work, Shawn. I like the tongue play in the first image, not to mention the perfect lighting.

[JayinMN]

They are all great, but I have to go with the first as my favorite. You have a fine collection there. I have yet to capture one on my camera.

[upnorth]

Nice stuff. I like the first and last ones the best.

[Jim Almquist]

The whole series of shots are just excellent but the feeding shot is perfect in many ways. The fact that her tongue is seen and that she is feeding a young one and the backside of her tail feathers are exposed all make this shot.

I one day hope to find the Flicker that sits still long enough to get a shot or two- Must be that crab crawl thing

[Hwood]

Those birds are nice to look at. 3rd is my favorite. Great colors.

[Canon Guy]

Great series!