Pileated Woodpecker Carving a Nest Hole

[Karl Egressy]

I got tipped off by a friend about this site.
Only two photogs were let known, my friend Jon and ffice:smarttags" />I.
Sorry keeping my mouth shot, but I'm gagged by my word regarding location.
We were watching them for about half an hour last morning (and Today)
The male was working on the hole for a long time. Then the female flew in and the male left.
It was so funny; the female checked the hole very thoroughly from left and right and all angles.
Then she reached in a few times and removed some small leftover chips. Then she got into the hole.
The male flew over and tapped on the tree trunk ever so gently, barely making any noise.
The female had a very loud call coming from the hole and they flew away together.
I think she was impressed with what she saw.

Canon 40D
Canon 500 L IS 1.4x TC
ISO 250
f 7.1
1/400 sec
exp comp +1/3
No fill flash this time.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This woodpecker really is at work. :) I like the action, details and exposure of the blacks. The head could go a bit darker for my taste.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Karl,
Great action shot! I too might darken the head just a tad.
Best,
Nicki

[Raul Quinones]

Love it, agree with nice action shot. Amazing that you will able to freeze the action with 1/400th. The bird most has seen you a decided to pose for the shot, cool to see the bird sharp and the bark of the tree blur. I like how you frame the picture with the tree, but I will have prefer less tree and more space on the right side.

[Randy Stout]

Karl:

Excellent shot. I haven't seen one with this much wood flying before! The usual up angle here, but not bad.
The blacks are excellent, at the expense of the head, as pointed out by Axel. Agree with Raul about the SS, amazing that it did as well as it did. Pushing up the ISO to give you more shutter speed flexibility would have helped.

All in all, I shot I would loved to have taken! I had a pair of them in my backyard last year, and spent many hours watching them. The female was lost sometime after hatching, and the male stuck it out and fledged both chicks. I was so afraid he would give up. He worked very hard.

Please post some more if you have them.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Incredible action, showing the flying bark. Excellent exposure on the blacks, and you have the perfect comp here. Well captured Karl.

[Karl Egressy]

Thank you guys. The head is the focal point and it seems to be at the 1/3-2/3 position.
You can break away from that if you wish, but I felt confortable with it.
The way I kept it in focus was that I focused on the bird's head, kept the shutter button half way pushed, and waited until he came up with his head from the hole again and I fired away. It worked. I used single shot setting for this.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pretty cool action! Agree on the brightness of the head. Were you able to swing further right to your right to better see the feet and a have a view of the worked-on area?

[Arthur Morris]

Al EXC comments above: less tree and too bright on the face. In addition, the angle is steep. Give us a hint: US or Canada???

[Karl Egressy]

Pretty cool action! Agree on the brightness of the head. Were you able to swing further right to your right to better see the feet and a have a view of the worked-on area?

Thanks Daniel. Yes I was but I did not like what I saw in the background. I have a few with the legs but this is the best action shot so far.

[Karl Egressy]

Al EXC comments above: less tree and too bright on the face. In addition, the angle is steep. Give us a hint: US or Canada???

Thanks Artie. I'll work on the face.
It is in Ontarion Canada.
I was told that as soon as they start sitting on the eggs, it will be posted on OFO.
Here is the version having less tree and more space.
Also, the head was darkened. (I had to re-process the whole thing so it may look different)

[Judd Patterson]

Karl, the action that you captured here is really great! Beautiful bird and story. Keep in mind that the birds will be at their most sensitive when they are incubating...please urge whoever is to reveal their location to wait until there are chicks. The birds are much less likely to abandon once the chicks have hatched.