NATURE CLICKS #327 - PILEATED WOODPECKER

Female Pileated Woodpecker, Mississippi River, dam #9

I start with the biggest highlight of our bird watching weekend. It happened on the dike of dam #9 in the Mississippi River, just north of Harpers Ferry, Iowa. I was hoping to see another kinglet again but instead a full grown Pileated Woodpecker just landed on a dead tree trunk right in front of me. I made quickly a few clicks but my view was obstructed by branches. Luckily the woodpecker took off again and flew to another tree, a little further away. Only a couple thin twigs were between me and the bird this time but I can live with them.

The Pileated is the largest woodpecker in North America. They are about half a meter tall and their call is usual a very loud “kee-kee-kee-kee-kee”. We actually have them here in our woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley, and if you use the search field in the side bar of my blog, you may find my older reports about this bird. The Pileated Woodpecker is very shy and skittish and that makes it always a special event if we see one or get it in front of the lens.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

The woodpecker didn’t hesitate a second and started to wedge its large bill between the tree trunk and the bark. Big pieces of bark were flying around and this female knew obviously very well where to find a good snack. The second picture has a little motion blur but it shows pretty good how she attacked the tree. I would have been still very happy if this Pileated was the only bird we would have seen during the whole weekend. But there was more…, so please stay tuned…

NATURE CLICKS #323 - RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER

Male Red-bellied Woodpecker

The woodpeckers around here are very active at this time of the year, especially the male Yellow-shafted Northern Flickers try already to get the females attention. The Red-bellied-Woodpeckers have still a little time. Their breeding season starts in early May. Its common name is somewhat misleading, as the most prominent red part of its plumage is on the head.

NATURE CLICKS #256 - HAIRY WOODPECKER

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, speed light Nikon SB800, at 500mm, 1/250 s, f/6.3, ISO200

About three weeks ago I wrote that some of the critters we have here in our woods need a better representation in my galleries, means I like to make better images. The Hairy Woodpecker is one of the species that is here all year long but they are a lot more skittish than their smaller cousins, the Downy Woodpecker. Last weekend I was able to make a couple clicks of the Hairy and the photo I show you today will replace the previous one in the woodpecker section of the Bird Gallery - North America. Click HERE for a shortcut.

It’s hard to believe that my new website and blog are online since already a month now. I have not regretted the switch from GoDaddy and Wordpress to a Squarespace platform for the website. It has bought me a lot of time, time that I like to use for the creative process of my photography and for writing the content of this blog. I spare you with the “tech talk”, but if you like to know what else triggered the switch, send me a message and I can fill you in with the details (just in case you consider a change for your own website ;-)  )

WORKING WITH FLASH FILL

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, SB800, at 420 mm, 1/250s, f/8, ISO200,

It was another day with plenty of sunshine but very low temperatures. We go through a lot of bird food at the moment but who want’s to blame the birds or the squirrels, who eat probably as much as the birds do. 

It doesn’t happen very often that a woodpecker poses like this and this Downy did it for only a few seconds. Most of the time we see their side profile or the backside. I wanted to make this kind of a shot since a long time and today I had my chance. I was glad that the flash light was on camera already. A right dosed flash fill throws in a little bit of extra light, just enough to give the feathers some structure and to reveal the subtle colors on the front side of this Downy Woodpecker.

NATURE CLICKS #254 - RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER

We still have quite a bit of snow here in our woods and I try to take advantage of this “big reflector” for my bird photography. This beautiful female Red-bellied Woodpecker is a frequent visitor here and a few days ago I had a chance to make this photo with just natural light. Don’t take me wrong, I don’t mind using a fill flash for boosting the colors if the natural light is not sufficient, but this time the soft light that bounced just off the snow did the job just fine.

NATURE CLICKS #253 - DOWNY WOODPECKER

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, Nikon SB800 speed ligh

Every bird goes on high alert here in our woods if a bird of prey shows up. They either fly away panicky or they just freeze absolutely motionless, like this Downy Woodpecker just outside our window. A Sharp Shinned Hawk hunts here quite often, and even if we can’t see the predator always, we know it is around by just watching the other birds behavior.