RETROSPECTS 2023 - #2

December 18, 2023

It was a thrill to watch a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers working on the cavity in a tree trunk for their nest. It was my first time in spring at the Valley of Eden Bird Sanctuary over in Illinois, about an hour away from home. I really wanted to make this kind of image of a Red-headed Woodpecker since a very long time and all dreams came through this year. I wasn’t able to follow up on this later in the season, for example while the woodpeckers were feeding their offspring, but it is definitely on my list for 2024 to check out this great location again.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,…@850 mm, 1/640s, f/9, ISO 1600, image cropped

NATURE CLICKS #563 - RED-HEADED WOODPECKER

June 18, 2023

Red-headed Woodpecker, Valley of Eden Bird Sanctuary, Illinois

Not long ago I wrote here about a migratory Red-headed Woodpecker in our front yard. Today we were in for a special treat. Joan and I drove over to Illinois and made a visit to the Valley of Eden Bird Sanctuary, not far from Stockton, IL. This 409-acre property contains managed grassland areas, upland forests, prairie restoration areas, and managed pasture. With other words, this area provides cover and food mix for many birds that have been in decline due to habitat loss and alteration of the land.

The breeding season is in full swing and some of the birds, like Dickcissel or Bobolink, which I hoped to see, stayed low in the grass and didn’t give much opportunity for a picture. Instead a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers came to our attention. With our binoculars and the long lens we spotted a cavity in a dead tree on the other side of a small but steep valley where they seemed to work on. I couldn’t let this opportunity pass by and hiked around the valley over to the other side. With the 1.4 teleconverter on the long lens I was able to maintain a safe distance. The birds did not stop their activities. One flew into the hole and I heard it chiseling with its long bill. The construction work for a nest cavity was obviously not finished. This wood pecker is a gorgeous bird and I had this kind of a shot in mind since a long time. Today was the day.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,…@850 mm, 1/800s, f/9, ISO 1600, image cropped

WOODPECKER SPECIES #7 SHOWED UP

May 8, 2023

Red-headed Woodpecker, Little Maquoketa Valley, Iowa

As mentioned yesterday we had a lot of bird activities going on this weekend and I shared already a few moments with you in my last blog posts. But the photo that put the biggest smile in my face is the one above. It has been four years ago that we saw the Red-headed Woodpecker here up on the bluffs above the valley. They can be found in other parts of the driftless area and in the Upper Mississippi Valley and I have seen them occasionally but here in our woods they only show up for a short time in May, and not even every year. My guess has been that all the other woodpecker species are too much competition and the Red-headed Woodpecker seems to prefer dead trees that are closer to a body of water, although the Little Maquoketa River is just down in the valley. Who knows, we just don’t see them nesting right here. Male and female look very similar and seeing only one bird doesn’t help to determine what gender is in front of the lens.

With the appearance of the red-headed we have seen finally all seven species of woodpeckers that spend some time here during the year since January.

BIG SURPRISE

May 23, 2019

Red-headed Woodpecker, Little Maquoketa River Valley, near Durango, iowa

Remember, I talked about several times before over the years that we see some birds here in our woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley only for a few days in early May. One of them is the Red-headed Woodpecker, but to my surprise this bird showed up again yesterday evening. This makes me wonder if this guy will stick around during the summer. I haven’t seen a second one, a potential partner, like in other years, and maybe it was just the cold weather that we see a different pattern in migration. Other species, like the Scarlet Tanager or the Orchard Oriole, are also still present in larger numbers than usual. Not such a bad thing for the photographer but it puts up the question why this is all different this year…?

NATURE CLICKS #424 - RED-HEADED WOODPECKER

May 8, 2019

For two days we had the pleasure to watch this beautiful Red-headed Woodpecker in the woods around our house. He or she is probably migrating further north. This species is actually a native in our area but we see them in our woods only for a few days in May. We have plenty of woodpecker habitat, means dead trees, but five other woodpecker species (sometimes even six) raise their offspring in our valley and on the bluff tops and this is maybe too much competition.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender

COMPETITION

January 27, 2019

Four of the seven woodpecker species we find here in the woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley are regular visitors to our bird feeders. At times with lots of snow and very cold temperatures, as we have right now, the competition over the food and feeding times is always on.

Size matters and if a Northern Flicker with its long bill wants to eat, everybody else has to wait in line. We count at least four different flickers.

The Hairy Woodpeckers do not visit as often as the other species and they are the most difficult ones to photograph. They are high in the ranks with their long bill and they can be very vocal. We see at least one pair and an immature bird.

Since we live here up on the bluffs the Red-bellied Woodpeckers have been a pleasure to watch every year. They may argue with a Hairy Woodpecker about the best spots, because they are similar in size, but if a flicker wants to feed, they go back to a waiting position. We see two adults and a couple immature red-bellies, who were born last year.

The smallest one of the bunch is the Downy Woodpecker. They look very similar to a Hairy Woodpecker but they are much smaller in size. As you can imagine the downys always have to leave a suet feeder if one of the bigger birds decides to eat. They are the first ones in the morning and still feed when all the other woodpeckers are gone at dusk. Usually we see 5-6 birds at the same time around the house but a week ago, when we received the first big snow of the season, we counted 10 different Downy Woodpeckers, which is a new record this year.

WOODPECKER COMPETITION

May 14, 2017

There is enough food for everybody available but today the woodpeckers acted like there was no tomorrow. It seems the “new kid on the block”, the Red-headed Woodpecker who hangs around here since a few days, wants to establish a dominance over all his cousins.

Two Hairy Woodpeckers are permanent residents on our bluffs here and usually nobody messes with their long and sharp bill. They are about the same size as the red-headed but even they went out of its way.

Four Red-bellied Woodpeckers are part of the gang and can be very expressive and vocal if they dislike something. However, especially the younger birds, like this female, have been chased today by the red-headed “bully”.

The seven or eight Downy Woodpeckers are the cool girls and boys in our woods. They are much smaller in size and wouldn’t have any chance in a fight with their cousins. They stay away from the chase and come only to our feeders when the bigger guys need a break.

RARE GUEST: RED-HEADED WOODPECKER

May 12, 2017

It is an exiting time of the year for watching the birds, migrating ones or permanent residents. As already announced yesterday, we had a visitor in our woods that is supposed to be in eastern Iowa all year long, but we only have seen this bird four times during the month of May in the last 13 years. Well, it doesn’t matter, it is a beautiful woodpecker and making a few clicks yesterday early morning was a thrill. I saw the Red-headed Woodpecker again briefly today but wasn’t able to aim my lens at the bird again.

Making another click of a bird, days, weeks, months, or even years later bares always the question, was there any improvement? I knew from previous shootings that sharpness was kinda at the edge of acceptance in the past. This is a fact not so much visible in every picture posted on the world wide web, but the truth is revealed at the moment someone wants to print the photo on a larger scale. I know I made a step forward with yesterday’s photos, sharpness is a lot better than in the past, but as always, there is still room for improvement…

NATURE CLICKS #335 - RED-HEADED WOODPECKER

May 17, 2016

It took me 3 years and 12 days to make an image of the Red-headed Woodpecker again here in our neck of the woods. Today I finally saw an adult at a tree trunk, eying one of our suet feeders. At this time of the year the camera with long lens is always mounted on the tripod and ready to be used immediately. I didn’t get the shots the first time but the woodpecker came back a couple more times. The light was changing constantly from bright sun to slight overcast and back, and my index finger was switching between the button for exposure compensation and the shutter release all the time.

The Red-headed Woodpecker is supposed to be in our part of Iowa all-season but we have seen it only in May for short periods of time, the last time in 2013. All of the sources I use for identification and education about birds report a severe decline in the past half-century because of habitat loss and changes to its food supply. The good thing is, within the last two months we have seen all seven woodpecker species we had recorded before here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River.