Nest Excavation - Redshafted (Northern) Flicker

I photographed this male Red-shafted flicker last week while I was on Vancouver Island. This photo was taken about 20 meters (~ 65 feet) from the shots of the California Quail. This male repeatedly returned to work on the nest hole for over 40 minutes. Finally the female arrived to do an inspection while he sat on a power line.

The lighting was pretty harsh so I did try and use Fill Flash but I'm not that pleased with the results. I still like the action that the two shots convey together.

Bigma handheld*. Shots cropped to about 40% of original. First shot run through Neat Image.

* I find that I'm not as steady when shooting at an upward angle. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my tripod or monopod.

Great and well timed captures Stephen.

cool... we had one in the BG at my house but for some reason.... a black bird moved in... its an old dead tree so Im thinking the BB got the tree for a song and hired the flicker to renovate it for her...its the only conclusion i can figure!!
lol
Great shots of an awesome Bird!!

good catch stephen

Nice timing Stephen. There is nothing much you can do about harsh lighting. do you have any filters for the Bigma?

Thank you Reyno, Zacker and Gary

canonloader wrote in post #3109103
Nice timing Stephen. There is nothing much you can do about harsh lighting. do you have any filters for the Bigma?

Thanks Mitch. I have a "skylight" or "UV" filter on all my lens for protection. I also have Polarising filter for my Kit and Sigam 70-200 mm lens but not, as yet for the Bigma.

LOL, get out of my nest

Very good behaviour shots.

Very cool action shots Stephen, well done!

Cool captures under tough conditions Stephen.

Thank you Calicot, Sindri, Trevor and Gary. I really didn't know where to point my lens first: Male Hooded Merganser, Audubon's Warbler, Flicker or California quail all in the same place! I never left the park's small parking lot to even try and find the bald eagle's nest. It was a great two hours before I left for the airport.

Very nice behavioural images, you had a nice bird tour while on the island.

A little blurry but you captured the essence of what you saw. Sounds like it was a productive parking lot!

Great work getting these with such a skittish bird, Stephen. I love the poses.