This image was selected as one of my Four Best of 2004 to represent my efforts in bird photography and the 600mm f/8 mirror lens which I had owned for one day when this was taken. I have several bird photos that are better in terms of pose or sharper but this one remains my favorite because of the species it shows and how lucky I felt when the bird made a rare appearance in my back yard.

I have been wanting to photograph a Pileated Woodpecker since I learned of their existence. When I saw this one drumming on my deck he was so close I could only get in the head and depth of field was too little to shoot that close with the lens I had on the camera. Thankfully, he cooperated by flying to a tree nearby and posing for this one shot before leaving. The background shows some rings from the mirror lens but I never would have got this shot (taken at about 30 feet and shown here reduced but not cropped) with another lens. It could be sharper.

This image was posted to the PBase space of the Digital Rebels Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digital-Rebels
Users of Digital Rebel, 300D, 20D or other Canon Digital SLR's are invited to join us.