The Tamest Pileated Woodpecker Ever!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I had a nice and long encounter with this ultra tame male Pileated Woodpecker. I spent close to an hour with this fella as it worked on the hole no more than 8-10 feet off the ground, and it all but ignored me except for a few glances here and there (like here) just to let me know that it knew I was there. When I left it was still going on strong. What a magnificent animal to watch work!

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/5.6, ISO 800, full frame, a bit of white sky filled in in URC, added some cyan to the reds of the head (using selective color) and also destaurated them some using the sponge tool (the reds were so bright they looked blown out and void of details)

[Karl Egressy]

Great chance and a nice image, Daniel. When they work on the nest hole, they seem to be more tolerant towards us based on my experience to.
My wife and I spent about one hour just like you, watching them (the male and female) at the nest hole.

[Alan Murphy]

Nice find Dan. Nice detail and exposure work. Looks a little steep, but that may be just my old eyes.

[Tim Harding]

Good job on the reds - always a challenge with this species. I'd like to have seen the entire bird, unless this was intended as a portrait.

We have one that regularly visits the "woodpecker pole" we erected in our back yard. It's only 6 ft tall, but when she is busy gouging away she even ignores our dogs in the yard.

[Binu John]

Excellent work Dan! Great find and capture. Love the pose, colors and the perfect exposure. Perfect processing as always. TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys! Yes, this was intended as a close up with a nice view into the hole...and I did take some full body images too. Stay tuned!

[Ashley Cohen]

Fantastic image. Always great to find a bird that is so stunning and lets you just take pictures.