Pileated Woodpecker

My wife and I took a walk yesterday afternoon in a patch of woods we don't often visit. I left the tripod and 500 behind, and carried my new 80-400 and D7200. We heard this Pileated Woodpecker drumming and calling in the woods, and after some time saw him fly ahead of us, landing on the ground behind a large tree. I walked as close as I dared, and then stood to watch while leaves flew out from both sides of the tree as he searched for carpenter ants in the leaf litter. It seemed a long time before he took a peek around the left side of the tree, then hopped up onto the right side just for a moment. When he saw me he noisily took off, but not before I was able to fire off a few frames. Made my day, since this is not a species I've gotten many chances at, especially at eye level.

D7200, 80-400 VR @ 390mm, ISO 1250, 1/1600s @ f/6.3 manual, HH.

Great opportunity and excellent image, Bill.

Great opportunity, lovely image. Thank you for sharing.

Bill:

Nice job taking advantage of the fleeting opportunity! I have never seen one at eye level myself, so really nice to have that angle here.

Well exposed, sharp, sense of depth from bg texture.

Cheers

Randy

Excellent exposure, and nice POV.

Ed

Beautifully sharp! Excellent image!

very nice,sharp,nice pose and BG.

Good job patiently waiting him out. Well balanced comp, good IQ. Light was getting harsh, but dealt with best it could.

What a handsome guy! Beautifully exposed, great POV and detail.

Hi Bill, excellent exposure, especially on the blacks, and I do like the open beak. I like your placement of the woodpecker, and the bark of the tree stands out nicely.

I like the composition, sharpness, exposure, details and BG. Excellent image Bill!

Hoping I can get a shot of one of these guys here in Ottawa. Great image. [emoji106]

Thank you all.