When my kids were growing up they used to love the “I Spy” books, where they would have to hunt for hidden objects on each page – you know, like find three rabbits, two hats, and twelve wooden blocks. My daughter especially loved the thrill of victory after successfully locating everything on the list.

Well, my camera has its own “eye spy” feature – where you can set it up to try and find an animal’s eye and focus on it. Usually, it does quite an admirable job; but occasionally, it encounters a situation that is simply asking too much!

Take this lovely female Northern Flicker for example. She was foraging about in the grass, so I grabbed my camera to try and capture a few shots. I’ll bet it isn’t hard to see why the camera was confused! It would seem that this gal has a belly-full of eyes!

Not only that, her back is specked and dotted as well! I had to take over the reigns a bit and help the camera know where to focus.

She spent a good while investigating the grass and drilling down into the ground, which, unlike most woodpeckers, is where Flickers usually feed.

Sometimes she came up with no more than a muddy beak to show for her efforts…

…and sometimes she emerged with a tiny morsel to munch.

I was hoping she would fly up to a branch and perch for a moment or two so I could get some pictures with a less cluttered background, but alas, she stayed on the ground the whole time.

Later on in the day, after I was inside with my camera all tucked away, the male (who has a black cheek streak) showed up and foraged alongside her. Who knows, maybe one of those days they’ll both stop by and strike a picture perfect pose for me. Until then, I’ll just enjoy having them around!