![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/northern-flicker-9305-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-flicker-9305-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI’m not sure who was more startled, me or the flicker.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Three days ago I spent some time in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City and found this female\u00a0Northern Flicker perched high on a tree at the top of a hill. Given the steep angle and messy setting I knew my best chance for a shot or two I’d like was to get her taking off so I kept my lens on her for a while.<\/p>\n Around here flickers are generally jumpy and difficult to approach and this one was quite\u00a0nervous though she did stay on the perch for a minute or so. Several times she bent her head down and looked straight down\u00a0into the tree below her but I didn’t think much about it at the time and didn’t fire off any shots of her in that posture because her face was always hidden when she did it.<\/p>\n But the last time she looked down something down\u00a0there scared the livin’ poop out of her and her\u00a0reaction was to take off\u00a0explosively and…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n backwards!<\/em><\/p>\n Here her body posture might be a little difficult to interpret – we’re seeing her topside including the top of\u00a0the\u00a0flashing white rump exhibited by all flickers. In her panicked reaction to something that scared her (that\u00a0something was\u00a0apparently in the tree below her) she was\u00a0still going mostly backwards when this shot was taken. Her head is hidden by her left wing.<\/p>\n Obviously I wasn’t prepared for this angle of takeoff so even with my teleconverter removed\u00a0I cut off half of her body in the next shot.<\/p>\n Curious to know what scared her I carefully inspected the tree below her for the culprit in several of my uncropped\u00a0images. I wondered if it might be a snake in the tree (gopher snakes are common around here and they’re expert tree climbers) but I couldn’t spot anything\u00a0potentially threatening.<\/p>\n So I’ll never know what startled her so severely but her reaction gave me\u00a0a photo of one of the weirdest takeoffs I’ve ever seen – especially from a bird this size or larger.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – Obviously this photo’s only attraction is the unusual takeoff angle and\u00a0posture of the flicker. I’d classify it as a “novelty shot” but I’m not above novelty shots when they amuse me. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/northern-flicker-9336-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-flicker-9336-ron-dudley\\"")
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