Black-backed Woodpecker Nest!?

[Daniel Cadieux]

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.

[gail bisson]

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!Claiming ownership are you?!!
Excellent exposure as usual and good solid comp.
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

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.

[Jeannean Ryman]

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

[Satish Ranadive]

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

Regards,
Satish.

[Jim Crosswell]

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

[Alan Murphy]

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

[David Salem]

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.

[Mike Veltri]

Sweet, hope it is nesting for you Daniel.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

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

[Shawn Zierman]

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!

[PhilCook]

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

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

[Randy Stout]

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

[Declan Troy]

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.

[Troy Lim]

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