One of a bird’s best defenses against predators is quickness. This electric-fast darting ability is, however, very off-putting to me because I only get a very fleeting glance at their spectacular colors and/or patterns while in flight. I hav been working on photography skills that give me that visual that has been a speck of a second long and preserved only by memory. This downy woodpecker was perched on a tree for a moment and then took off with a leap. I was lucky enough to get the action inches after the jump. So now we can all take a nice restful look at a downy in flight with a very pretty wing pattern.
