Northern Flicker, the greatest morning ever!!

[ShawnZ]

I thought that I knew this species. This morning taught me to expect the unexpected It was as if I was wearing the cloak of invisibility. I put the stock on 11 flickers and got to within fifteen feet of 8 of them! That just does not happen.....ever! Doubters? Feel free to try, on most days, if you are lucky, you might get 1 out of 100 to be that cooperative. These are two seperate birds, exposures made within about a half hour.

Images made in Duluth. SonyA300, Sigma50-500mm, iso400, f10, 1/500, cropped, USM. Comments and critiques always welcome.

Regards,

Shawn Zierman.

[Dbl]

Beautiful Shawn! They are really a pretty bird and you have done them justice!

[ricerdude69]

nice images, sounds like a blast

[MN Shutterbug]

Lovely shots. Nice lighting to boot. Do you have any cloaks for sale? I could sure use one.

[JayinMN]

Beautiful shots! I noticed the flickers in the bog were oddly bold today too.

[finnbay]

They are VERY difficult to get close to! Well done! Great photos!

[Nymph]

Great work, Shawn. That first shot is fantastic! The lighting and pose doesn’t get any better than what you have here.

I tried putting the sneak on a few the other day and they said no way.

[ShawnZ]

Thanks alot for the feedback folks! X, I wish I really did have a cloak, I'd have a whole portfolio of kingfisher shots by now I'm so used to seeing this species of woodpecker fly away from me, I made a rhyme to teach my kids to learn this bird. It goes, "White on the back, don't look back, it's a northern flicker Jack." Think about it

For fun here's three more.

[eyeguy 54]

dang those are nice.

[Hwood]

Yep, those are nice. You can check that one of your list.

[JohnK]

Very nice shots Shawn, great bright colors.

15 feet is great, I've never been able to get that close to any of the ones I've been able to shoot, 50' is closer to average for me...on a good day.

[ShawnZ]

Thanks for the kind comments folks. John, 50ft is around my average as well, this day was simply unreal. Hwood, I wish I could check it off my list but my addiction won't let me

[Jim Almquist]

Those are some really great shots Shawn. I have to agree on the 50' and there are a lot of days that it is closer to 100'