Bearded Woodpecker feeding her young

[Richard Flack]

Female Bearded Woodpecker
Kololo Game Reserve, South Africa

A highlight of any trip is finding an active nest site, especially when it is a nest site of such a cool bird as a woodpecker. Here is the female of the species. Dad will be arriving shortly :). I was really blessed to spend a few days with these awesome birds quietly observing there comings and goings..

Canon 7d MkII 400 f2.8
ISO 400 / f6.3 / 1/800 / -0.3 / spot metering

[Richard Flack]

In terms of post processing, just did some sharpening for web and a bit of brightness and contrast.

[Bill Dix]

A new WP for me, nicely captured in a perfect WP pose. The grub is a bonus.

[Ihtisham Kabir]

It is a great shot and a new woodpecker for me, too. Thanks for sharing. I was expecting to see the "young", though. Ihtisham

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Richard,

Indeed a blessing to witness something so special and to be able to capture this event. Love the image design and colours, the little worm/caterpillar the female is carrying adds even more interest to an already exciting find!

Superb BG colours and the lichen adorned "perch" helps balance this frame, wonderful rich colours on the subject, great HA. This works for me on all counts, well seen and captured and wonderful PP work, TFS!!!

Kind regards,

[Daniel Cadieux]

It's always a treat to follow such situations! Very good IQ - the woodpecker looks great, and the grub nice and juicy. The BG is very appealing but I do find that there is a lot of negative space at right. The tree looks interesting enough that you could have pointed your lens to the left a tad more IMO (although I realize these ops can happen so fast!). Really nicely done overall.

[dankearl]

I love the angle and the bird looks great....

[Richard Flack]

Thanks a ton for the comments everyone!