Last October, I was fortunate to catch amazing conditions near 10k ft in Southern Utah. It had been rainy so the morning was filled with rolling fog and soft dawn light. Moments before this, a great horned owl flew through the forest and perched as if he was watching this show. Unfortunately he landed just out of this frame or it would have too good to be true!

The colors are just beginning to change up high here now and on full display soon!
October 2021 // Southern Utah // 5 image stitched pano (Lightroom)
(file here is not full res, only 3.9MB:))

This picture was taken in Cabin Lake, Oregon. The environment is the transition between conifer forest and high desert, typical of much of eastern central Oregon.

A number of different species of woodpeckers thrive here, but this appears to the be dominant one.

The picture was taken at a small pool of water that is present year round; the only one in several square miles. A stream of woodpeckers visit this every morning providing many opportunities for images.
This was shot with a Canon R5, a 100-500 mm zoom lens (at 500mm) from distance of approximately 20' from a blind. A grey overcast morning shortly after sunrise, SS 1/500, ISO 2500, f/7.1. In Photoshop, BG selectively darkened, cropped to square.