Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I’m so excited-this is the best Male-Northern Flickr image I’ve made to date!  It is also the closest I’ve ever been to a Northern Flicker.
My friend Rainey and I had been shooting wildflowers up in the mountains when we were descending we spotted him pecking at the road. He flew up to this perch and stayed just long enough to capture two frames. Both were a bit over exposed, and not as sharp as I would have liked as I was shooting on the fly from the passenger side of the car through the window. Thankfully Adobe Camera Raw, and a bit of sharpening in Photoshop saved the image.

I am not happy about cutting off his tail though. So, while I’m happy to have made this image there is a better one still to be made. The chase continues. 🙂

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm @ f4| 1/200s| ISO 500| Manual Priority| Matrix Met| Hand-held| San Benito County, California, USA