Black-backed Woodpecker Nest!?

These guys are not known to breed in Ottawa and I'm not sure there is even a single breeding record here so it was quite a surprise seeing this beautiful male Black-backed Woodpecker enter what appears to be a nest hole. I did not observe a female in the area nor did I see any excavating going on so perhaps it was just a resting hole. Another visit there by yours truly is surely in the cards...

Canon 7D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/400s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, small crop for comp, darkened pupil, a larger distracting imperfection on the tree patched out, darkened some parts of the tree via burn tool and used the sponge tool to add some vibrance to it's colours.

I sure hope it is a nest for your sake Daniel! I like the little head poking out and the tree looks good.
It looks like you carved a "D" in the wood:bg3:!Claiming ownership are you?!!
Excellent exposure as usual and good solid comp.
Gail

What a great looking WP. Great IQ on this one, Daniel, and I really like the details in the tree trunk. Fingers crossed on the nesting! Most of our woodpeckers are on eggs down here.

This is so cute! I really like the angle of this. Hope you find him again!

Daniel Sir:
Absolutely superb image of wood pecker.I like the interesting perch,nice lights,beautiful colors,details in whites and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

I like the exposure, IQ and composition. Hope he finds a female and hangs around. Well done Daniel!

A great shot of a species I want to meet someday.

Nice peek-a-boo pose of this guy. cool looking bird that I have never seen before. Techs look good as always. Hope he finds a mate also.

Sweet, hope it is nesting for you Daniel.

I feel like his litle feet should be coming out of thos other two holes. :S3: Love him caught in the opening like that. I am looking forward to this nesting season this year too.

Very cool to see a black backed woodpecker in a cavity like this. I would be surprised if it was a nest, based only
anectodotally on my own personal experiences with the species. Looks like a roost hole, and it appears old. I thought that this species typically excavated a new nest hole every year?...Whatever, look forward to any updates, and congrats on your success with this species this year!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cheryl Molennor

I feel like his litle feet should be coming out of thos other two holes. :S3: .

---

hahaha...my first thought as well LOL

Nice one Daniel, obviously I'm not familiar with species over the big pond, but seems well done are in order to of got this shot

Daniel:

The light is really nice, almost like fill. Great to see such an unique bird for your area. I thought someone had been carving initials too until I saw the other tracts from burrowing insects.

Hope you get more opps for this special fellow.

Cheers

Randy

Good find and nice shot. Black-backed Woodpeckers are quick to colonize areas such as burns and beetle killed conifers so it is possible you lucked out and found a nest on the periphery of the range. On the other hand, it might have just been using the cavity for roosting. Worth checking on from time to time.

Great find and very nice looking bird. Love the composition.