For days I had been trying to get some nice shots of birds coming to my suet feeder. Here I opened my deck door and placed the tripod in the darkened adjoining living room, about 10 feet from the feeder. I also extended the tripod to its max height and even only opened the feet up just enough that the camera and lens wouldn't tip it over thus gaining height and getting the camera to near eye level with my subject; in this case, a Norther Flicker, Red Shafted Form (Colaptus auratus).
Like most woodpeckers, the Norther Flicker is quite shy and will take off at the slightest sign of movement nearby. Here, standing behind the camera, I waited for some 45 minutes or so before this fellow showed up. I wasn't sure he would use the suet feeder since it was covered so well by the hanging Fuchsia, but since the deck railing was less than a foot below and and 9 inches laterally, he had no problem jumping up onto the feeder.
I liked having the Fuchsia as a colour reference guide to determine if any editing would be required. I also intentionally left the background out of focus so as to emphasize my subject.
