Preening Beauty Tips

Nice preening pose, Lucy.  I haven't seen much of this behavior in woodpeckers-the must pick a private location for their grooming.  There's a lack of detail in the larger image, but without any shooting or processing information, it's difficult to tell why.

Dennis, I used PSE RAW instead of Lightroom.  Do you like this version better?

You picked a tough shot and brought it off pretty well. A back-lit, black and white bird is always going to be challenging for the limited sensitivity of a camera, film or digital. The sides of the bird, especially the chest, are just a little hot, and you lost some of the details in the blacks. About the only way to manage this kind of light is with fill flash, not always an easy task with big glass. Without you shooting data, I can't judge whether you had other options. 

I prefer the first post; there's a bit more detail in the blacks. 

Jim, I'd have to have a "helluva" flash.  This guy was pretty far away. I think this is the best I could get.  Thanks for your opinion on the first photo.  The second one is smoother on the neck, which I do like, but some detail is lost on other parts of the bird.. 

This fella was at the full extension of my Canon 300 zoom