Woodpecker week!

[mn shutterbug]

You have some nice shots there. The first one is my favorite. It's also the sharpest. I'd love to get a good capture of a pileated someday. I've only seen one 3 times in my life, and never close up. Unfortunately, we don't have any in my area. Thanks for sharing.

One tip - try not to always center the subject. As a rule, but rules are made to be broken, there should generally be more room on the side that the subject is looking towards. It makes for better composition. Have you heard of the rule of thirds? This refers to the subject being in from the side and from the top or bottom, about 1/3. It's a little more pleasing to the eye. It's tough to remember while taking the photo, but you can usually crop accordingly during post processing. Other than that, I enjoyed them.

[Loupey]

"Wow", quetzal, as I look at the flicker series, then "WOW" even more as I see the pileateds!

I love the flicker series - would make a nice matted series piece.

As for the pileated - I've never seen an image with both the male and female pair in the same shot. I visited a large art show in my community this weekend where many photographers were selling their work. Many had pileateds but none with both parents. I've only seen a pair together but they were in flight.

Nice work :thumbsup: