A Hole In One

[Julie Kenward]

My red-bellied's are back...and this year I have the 400mm to capture it all! This red-bellied woodpecker already has close to half a dozen holes in the arm of this tree but he's still working it. Last year there was a nest of babies here so I'm hoping I'm in luck again this year. I will certainly keep the feeders full to encourage him to hang out another year. This was taken in the late afternoon so the light is a little harsher than I would want - will try again this weekend if the sun cooperates.

Canon 40D, EF 400mm f/5.6L
f5.3 @ 1/400th, ISO 200
Manual mode, pattern metering, handheld (looking almost straight up!)
Removed one OOF twig from the BG in pp.

[Steve Canuel]

I like the head turn and slicked back feathers on top of his head. I also like the hint of tree tops in the blue BG. The angle of the branch/bird makes me want to tilt my head for viewing. Good luck with the babies!

[Fabs Forns]

I heard about this bird before :)
I second Steve comments about tilting the head. I don't know how much space you have, it'd be worth trying and fooling reality. Is this the female?

Looking forward to the week-end and baby pics.

[Julie Kenward]

You should have seen the angle before I tried to set it right. ;) The limb where he/she's "holeing" is almost horizontal to the ground and on the underneath side of the limb. They have three holes lower on the branch before it makes the turn so I'll try to catch them there. I had to lean on the fence and arch backwards to get this...no worries - I told my dad to come build me an 8' tall blind. :D

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Nice job Julie, very sharp and nice head angle