Tuesday, February 03, 2009

My Friend Flicka

There are a pair of flickers in our neighborhood and they only visit as the sun is beginning to throw long shadows against the trees. They swoop in from somewhere across the forest and land on our snags and proceed to excavate whatever they can. They are fast and cautious and, therefore, difficult to catch still in a photograph. I can sometimes hear their 'wicker' call and then I am able to zone in to find them on a high branch poking away. I was lucky last night and raced out to the deck to catch this beautiful bird. They are my favorite woodpecker and this photography almost does their beauty justice as the bird books I have cannot. This is a much better screensaver in terms of clarity.

3 comments:

  1. Tabor, beautiful. I think I have rejoined the living. You are partly responsible for me wanting to return to the "woods". Hopefully I can take wonderful images. Thank you for your caring comments.

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  2. Tabor, I've enjoyed all your bird photos. It's easy to spend quite a lot of time watching their antics, isn't it?
    I've seen flickers here a few times. They eat ants at the base of the maple tree in the spring.
    I too love the woodpeckers. We see a lot of them. You got a great shot of this one.
    I only once saw a pileated near the maple, years ago. Have you seen any?

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  3. Kerri, we get the pileated in our woods from time to time. They are really industrious and attack both live and dead trees. They are not common but not rare.

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.