Posts in Category: woodpecker
Rufous-winged Woodpecker
Rufous-winged Woodpecker: Nectar and Pollen Reserve, Gualpies, Costa Rica, March 2025 — Nectar and Pollen Reserve is a small hummingbird garden, with fruit feeders, on the side of the mountains coming up out of Gualpies on the way back to San Jose. In the past year the owner, Miguel Delgado, a retired birding and nature guide, has built a hide for King Vulture observation as well. We were there early on our last morning in Sarapiqui to see if we could see some vultures…but this Rufous-winded Woodpecker entertained us while we waited. Looking at the red just on the nape, this is a female. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Thinks he is a Scrub Jay??
Red-bellied Woodpecker: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2026 — We have Red-bellied Woodpeckers who come to suet on our back deck. If I even look at them through the glass of back deck door they are off and way. Yet in Florida, this one flew down and fed with the Scrub Jays right at my feet. I think he must was maybe a founding…raised in a Jay nest…or maybe he has just learned his habits from the Jays. Anyway I really appreciated his cooperation. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Brown woodpeckers of the Sarapiqui
Smoky-brown, Rufous-winged, Cinnamon, and Chestnut-colored Woodpeckers: Tico Rainforest B&B, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — In two days of active birding on the grounds at Tico Rainforest B&B with Victor, I saw and photographed 4 of the brown woodpeckers of Costa Rica. (Though the Cinnamon here is a photo of a more cooperative bird just down the road from Victor’s at the Pierrella Ecology Gardens.) As you might be able to tell the top two are closely related, and the bottom two are closely related, but the top and bottom pairs are not. The Cinnamon and Chestnut-colored are fruit eaters, while the Smoky-brown and Rufous-winded eat mainly insects. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! More Red-bellied
Red-bellied Woodpecker: York County, Maine, USA, April 2024 — When you shoot at 15 frames per second you get a lot of different looks at even as active a bird as the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Here are 4 more, after yesterday’s tippy-toe pose. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Always on his toes
Red-bellied Woodpecker: York County, Maine, USA, April 2024 — The Red-bellied Woodpeckers are around our yard much more often this spring than in past years or past seasons. I am pretty sure they have established a primary territory just across the road from us in a little patch of forest. I hear them calling from there a lot. That is okay by me. I enjoy every encounter. This one came back to the old pines three times while I sat out in my camp chair waiting for birds, and just this once came down low enough for some good photos. And great afternoon light too. It was super active of course, as they always are, and I like the tiptoe pose here as it moved rapidly up the branch…but then Red-bellieds are always on their toes. OM System OM-1MKii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Cruickshank Woodpeckers
Red-bellied and Pileated Woodpeckers: Helen and Alan Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2024 — While looking for (and at) the Florida Scrub Jays that are the main attraction at the Cruickshank Sanctuary, I encountered a couple of woodpeckers. One was the very orange variety of the Red-bellied Woodpecker they have in Florida, and the other was a female Pileated. I am always happy to see either as they are both fairly elusive around my home in Maine…or I should say more elusive than our other local woodpeckers. I see them less often. The Red-belled was right against the sun and required a good amount of Exposure Compensation, and then some extra shadow control in post processing. OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Pieces of Pileated
Pileated Woodpecker: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — I was walking one of my favorite paths along the river marsh when I heard a loud strident call and this bird came swooping out of the woods and back in at eye-level. It was big, the size of a crow or a small hawk, and it was not until I saw the flash of its white underwings as it banked around that my mind engaged and I knew it for a Pileated Woodpecker. I forget how big a bird the Pileated is. This bird, as is common with woodpeckers, played hide and seek with me for the next half hour. Mostly it stayed fairly low in the trees, always on the back side of the trunk or behind a heavy tangle of branches. A few times it actually hid behind a branch, very intentionally putting and keeping the branch between us. I would loose it as it flew from tree to tree, and then have to listen carefully to find it, if not by its call, which it gave repeatedly, or by its loud drum, which it only did once, then by the constant low chatter it seemed to be making as it worked. Talking to itself (or maybe to me). I did manage a few shots of pieces of the bird, and a few awkward portraits. Most between obtruding branders or through heavy tangles. Still it was fun. Eventually it got tired of playing with me, and flew off all the way across the wide marsh and the river. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Acorn at Miriam’s
Acorn Woodpecker: Miriam’s Quetzals, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2023 — We drove up to the top of Buena Vista Mountain as it is named on the maps, or Cerro de la Muerte as it is commonly known, but the mountain top was shrouded in dense fog, hiding the vistas, so we returned to Savegre for a morning of photographing silky water in the stream below the hotel. Then for lunch we drove back up to Miriam’s Quetzals, a small family owned restaurant/coffee shop/gift shop half way back up to the Panam highway, perched on the side of the Savegre canyon, with a wonderful deck and feeding station which draws all the common birds at its cloud forest elevation, approaching 9000 feet. In the year since my last visit they have improved and enlarged the deck and it is an even better perch for photographing birds. Acorn Woodpeckers are among the dominant species, and though we can see them in the Western US, they are always a treat to see in the mountains of Costa Rica. The deck at Miriam’s provides close up views. OM System OM-1 with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! You say hello, I say goodbye
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — Coming and going. A (maybe) pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers on a dead tree. You never know what you are going to catch when you point the camera up. I was, of course just trying for the perched bird, when the second bird flew in and startled it off the perch. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent (and cropped). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro.
Maine! Pileated Woodpecker preening
Pileated Woodpecker: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — This bird flew into a tall bare maple tree on the other side of the pond while I was looking for Great Blue Herons in the river. I don’t see Pileateds very often, though they certainly nest in the area, so I hustled (much as a 76 year old ever hustles) around the pond and under the tree on the off chance the bird would wait for me. Turns out it was busy having a preen and was able to get some shots…not ideal…silhouetted against the grey sky and from an odd angle…but still…you have to photograph what is in front of you…especially when it is a Pileated Woodpecker. Pileated, by the way, refers to the peaked cap on the head. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Plus 1.0 EV for the backlight. Processed in Pixelmator Pro.