I could hear a couple of Pileated Woodpeckers calling but for the life of me I just could not locate any of them! Until I realized, from some wood chips flying and falling, that one of them was inside a newly begun hole being excavated on the other side of a tree I was standing next to. Needless to say I backed up (although the WP seemed comfortable by my presence) and took a large detour to the other side for a better view...low and behold I had a great view with a nice vantage point and a nice "foresty" BG to boot. I got to witness both the male and the female take turns digging it out. Hoping this will be indeed a nest so I will be heading back periodically to check it out...crossing my fingers for success! If not, then this was a great sighting with good opportunities too
Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/320s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, about 80% FF, some brighter highlights in the BG cloned in, the red crest toned down as it was way too red (added some cyan to it, and a bit overall desaturation). I also toned down the lower dark vertical line in the BG, also via low opacity clone tool.