Gray-headed Woodpecker

Gallery: AvianPosted February 1, 2011289 views23 comments

Here's another shot from our recent Thailand trip. I was able to approach this species very closely at Nam Nao National Park by crawling on my hands and knees. I find that ground feeding woodpeckers can get so occupied with feeding that you can sometimes get close to them this way. This one was feeding on ant mounds. It's over 90% of FF. This is the female, the male has some red on the crown.

MkIII 500F4 1.4x 1/200 F7.1 iso 800, evaluative metering +0.3, lens laying on ground.

Comments

23 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on February 1, 2011 at 9:13 AM

Excellent angle and the detail is great. I think you could have used 0 exposure compensation as the white feathers are a little bright

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on February 1, 2011 at 9:21 AM

Love that face. The eye is terrific. Nice low perspective. I'll have to try that crawling method for woodpeckers feeding on the ground.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on February 1, 2011 at 9:41 AM

Love the low angle and blurred background! Stunning example of a woodpecker I have never seen.

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by David Williams on February 1, 2011 at 10:01 AM

Cool story and bird, Nate.......one I've never seen nor heard of. Great color and DOF to make the bird stand out.

Registered on March 8, 2005, 315 Posts, 2291 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on February 1, 2011 at 10:23 AM

The ground level POV is excellent, but at the expense of that OOF vegetation in front of course. A minor nit.
Very sharp and detailed, love to see these exotic species of woodpecker Nate.
Keep em' coming

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on February 1, 2011 at 10:29 AM

Great detail and very sharp. Over all great image.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on February 1, 2011 at 12:25 PM

Nate,
super angle, excellent detail and beautiful subject. Great work.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on February 1, 2011 at 12:51 PM

Neat shot, Nate. Great expression and nice detail.
Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on February 1, 2011 at 1:25 PM

Sweet look at this cool species Nate. Love the low view. The OOF vege is in a place that does not distract at all IMO. The whites are white, but that works for me. Nice BG. Well done.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on February 1, 2011 at 1:49 PM

Wonderful perspective on this and good detail on the woodpecker, great job in approaching the bird, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Marquart on February 1, 2011 at 2:36 PM

Nice background, great detail in the bird. Good job of stalking!

Registered on October 24, 2009, 126 Posts, 799 Comments

Comment posted by Soubhik Patranabis on February 1, 2011 at 5:00 PM

Nice picture of a beautiful bird.

Registered on January 25, 2010, 54 Posts, 610 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on February 1, 2011 at 7:25 PM

Darned neat bird Nate, well presented. I think your overall exposure is fine. Enjoyed reading how you got the shot too.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Jason Scanlan on February 1, 2011 at 7:44 PM

Thanks for sharing. Nice looking bird

Registered on August 12, 2007, 8 Posts, 46 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on February 1, 2011 at 8:22 PM

What a cool bird. Nice exposure and angle, Nate. My only, very minor nit is that I'd like a bit more room at the bottom for the virtual feet, although that's always a challenge shooting from the ground.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on February 1, 2011 at 9:23 PM

Great low angle, eye contact and pastel setting.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on February 1, 2011 at 9:37 PM

wow--cool woodpecker, Nate. this is really nice--great low angle, sweet detail, nice bg. comp and exposure look good to me.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on February 1, 2011 at 10:57 PM

Hi Nate

The larger photo shows the fine detail beautifully.Love the pose and color of this rare bird

Albert Darmo. Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on February 2, 2011 at 12:19 AM

Very cool, Nate

I like the overall mix of colors in this photo. Techs look right on, naturally.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on February 2, 2011 at 2:05 AM

Nice work Nate!!! Your dedicated hands and knees rewarded you nicely.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on February 2, 2011 at 6:40 AM

Fantastic Nate - love the low pwerspective and great eye contact. Not seen a shot of this species before. Would like a tiny bit more room at the bottom but I can see by the oof grass that that was not possible

cheers
Rob