Flicker Flight

Gallery: AvianPosted January 16, 2012271 views19 comments

Northern Flickers appear brownish overall with a white rump patch that’s conspicuous in flight and often visible when perched. The undersides of the wing and tail feathers are bright yellow, for eastern birds, or red, in western birds. With a closer look you’ll see the brown plumage is richly patterned with black spots, bars, and crescents.
Yellow-shafted seen here..
F/9, 1/3200th, ISO 1250, 1D M3, 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x ext & natural light around 10:00

Comments

19 comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on January 16, 2012 at 8:02 AM

Thats a cracker Howard.!
Spot on.

JohnR

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on January 16, 2012 at 9:04 AM

Great capture, Howard ! The open wings show all the colors of this beautiful bird

Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on January 16, 2012 at 9:42 AM

Another nice flight shot, Howard- Nice pose and fine detail on this one, and I agree with your choice to improve DOF on bird instead of looking for a simpler BG- Very well done, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 16, 2012 at 11:54 AM

Very nice wing position to show off the yellow feather shafts.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on January 16, 2012 at 12:39 PM

Another excellent small bird flight shot!! However you do it bottle it and sell it. I'll buy some.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on January 16, 2012 at 12:57 PM

Robert - If I could I would...bottle it I mean..
I'd call it "Cheek's Insta Fix", photographer in a bottle. Just think of all the marketing opportunites!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on January 16, 2012 at 2:54 PM

Excellent image ! Like the pose and good to learn about the plumage (thanks!).

, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 16, 2012 at 4:27 PM

Very nice. like the partially open beak.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on January 16, 2012 at 10:33 PM

Always nice to get a flicker shot but to get a flight flicker (say that 3 times) is really cool, wonderful color scheme to these birds, excellent shot Howard, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 16, 2012 at 11:23 PM

Great view of the namesake characteristic, Howard. Nice crisp flight shot, though I might wish for just a bit less dof-the bg is a bit distracting, particularly around the head for some reason.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on January 16, 2012 at 11:59 PM

I love the wing position and the colors, and how well the bird shows against the background. Your small bird flight shots are just amazing to me.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on January 17, 2012 at 12:43 AM

Excellent detail in this flight shot Howard, well done!

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on January 17, 2012 at 8:52 AM

Fine capture, Howard. Very nice color and detail. Interesting caption too.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on January 17, 2012 at 3:58 PM

very well described the almost alway hidden colors appears well evident in this shot. Very well done,

Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on January 17, 2012 at 4:04 PM

Hello Howard

Beautiful Capture !! Love the Wing position . I do understand the difficulty to capture these guys in-flight.

Great Job !

Thanks for sharing

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on January 17, 2012 at 8:07 PM

Beautiful, Howard. Great sharpness and color. I like seeing so much of the yellow on the wings. Your effort into flight photography is paying off.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on January 19, 2012 at 12:43 PM

It's great. I love the open wings showing the great colors and detail as well as the upward sweep.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on January 20, 2012 at 7:49 AM

I agree with all the positive comments about this photo. To me it is an outstanding image. Flickers are a species I hope to get better images of then I now have, this shows it can be done. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on January 20, 2012 at 5:54 PM

An amazing flight shot Howard.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments