Gila Woodpecker and chick

Canon 7D
Canon 500/4 + 1.4x tripod/gimbal

1/3200 sec f/6.3 ISO 500

Viveza 2
CS6

This was interesting to watch. I believe the adult was trying to teach some sort of lesson to the chick. He would hold the berry (?) near the saguaro opening until the chick came out a little way, then backed his head away from the cactus to coax the chick out even further. He then relaxed and the chick popped his head back into the hole. The adult repeated this action several times before finally giving the treat to the baby.

Attachment 129888

Interesting behaviour you saw. That chick looks about ready to fledge so no doubt what you were seeing is a coaxing method to get the little one closer to getting out. A better HA from the parent would have been a lot to ask for here and I realize it may not even have been offered anyhow. Do you have more room for the comp?

Magnificent interaction captured. Very nice colors,nice details on both birds and beautiful composition. Good information.

Regards,
Satish.

Thanks, folks. Daniel, I do have a bit of room left, but I cropped it in to focus attention on the action. Where would you like to see more space? You're right - another HA wouldn't have been possible in this situation. I had thought about your explanation of the behavior, but it seemed like the chick was awfully young to be considering fledging, but maybe you're right.

I'd like to see more room on the left, especially -- the edge of the nest hole just touching the edge of the frame creates a point of tension that draws the eye and competes with the subject. A little more on the right could also be good.

What a super behavioural shot. It appears just a tad tight in the frame to me a little extra space all round but in particular the left would be good. I guess there was no possibility of taking the image from a higher position?

Of course the only place where I have no additional room on the original is on the left :P I might try and add a little landscape there.


Anyway, thanks for the comments. No, Jonathan, I couldn't have gotten any higher for this one. My tripod was fully extended (I have a 4 section Induro), and I was on a bit of higher ground, but that was it.

Do you have more from the series? I sure hope you have a better shot for this opportunity. I wish the adult's head was not blurry and moved away.
Nice feeding behavior captured here.