Most Popular Photos : June 2021 : Position 4

At first glance, this is obviously an appealing portrait of an interesting bird in a pleasing pose. Noticing the flower in the Northern Flicker's bill quickly adds further appeal, enhanced by the matching blossoms on the bird's perch. The standard bird photography technique of isolating the subject against a diffuse background also helps to complete the aesthetic. What makes this shot a real winner though is the colour of that background. If you think about it, the vast majority of photographs of perched birds have a backdrop of green or brown vegetation or the sky. The availability of any other colour to shoot against is therefore an opportunity for a bird photographer to create an image that stands out, especially a natural and complementary colour such as this one. Imagine the same photo with a standard green backdrop to appreciate what the photographer has achieved in this case.