Red-headed Woodpecker

(Composite)

(Composite)

Yesterday, I visited Sky Meadows State Park to spend a couple hours photographing Red-headed Woodpecker. Driving to the park, I see one Bald Eagle, two Red-shouldered Hawks, sixteen Red-tailed Hawks, and three American Kestrels perched along Interstate 66.

While photographing these delightful Woodpeckers in the park's Walnut Grove, a couple of Common Ravens are soaring above me.

Arriving at Sky Meadows, I find the park's front gate locked. Walking the park's entrance road, I hear the familiar rattle of a RHWP behind me. I grab my camera, returning to the area where I was hearing RHWP. This bird is still vocalizing, and I am standing right in front of it.

Try as I might, I cannot located the RHWP, this in spite of the fact that the bird is right in front of me. I am thinking: "How cool is this. I am here to photograph RHWP, and I cannot seem to find the one bird that I should be able to reach out and touch."

Walking into the park's Walnut Grove, the first bird I see is a RHWP chasing a Yellow-billed Sapsucker like a bat out of hell. The next two birds I see also are Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. I am thinking the way things are going RHWP will be chasing Sapsuckers all day long.

For a while, I am photographing nothing but RHWP hanging around treetops. I am waiting for one of these birds to drop down quite a bit so that it will be comfortably inside the reach of my lens. A few moments later, a RHWP does just this. I swing around to get on this bird. My line is good. The early mourning light is unbelievable. Things are going just fine, except for the fact that I cannot seem to find an exposure that works for me. My "shots" are all over-exposed, and I am blowing highlights, big-time.

Try as I might, I continue blowing highlights. I am thinking: "Come on, get a clue. Work the problem. This bird is not going to hang out inside the reach of my lens all day long." Nothing doing. Eventually, I give up trying to find some exposure (any exposure) that will work for me. I am standing in the Walnut Grove "spinning" my camera's wheel, thinking how great things would be if only I could actually "shoot" my camera and lens. Finally, I do figure this problem out. And, I am finally getting captures that I think will work for me.

While photographing these birds, I spend a lot of time watching RHWP doing RHWP stuff: chasing other woodpeckers, foraging (including ground foraging), caching acorns, and the like. RHWP is one of only a couple of woodpecker species that forage on the ground. The Walnut Grove is filled with rattling RHWP, and I am having a great time.

Birding is not nearly as easy as some would have others believe. I have invested a lot of time to become a credible, veteran birder. My own field craft and birding skills are the product of time in the field, patience, and good birding practices and habits of mind. I am hardly a veteran bird photographer. But, I do enjoy photographing birds quite a bit. I figure the bird photography formula looks something like this: time in the field, patience, and good habits.

RHWP, great birds to see and photograph. Sky Meadows Park, a neat birding venue.

Reference

Dunne. "Essential Field Guide Companion." Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006; p. 373.