Lewis's Woodpecker and repost as requested

Gallery: AvianPosted July 10, 20071,937 views22 comments

OK, here's one more Lewis's Woodpecker, feeding young at the nest. The nest site is in a 10 year old burn area on Elk Mountain, Black Hills, SD. Lewis's woodpeckers are not typical woodpeckers, they forage on flying insects and on the ground. Apparently currant berries are suitable food too, as seen in my previous post. I tried one (currant, not grasshopper), they are pretty good!

Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, 500mm with 1.4 tc, 1/640, f10.0, partial metering, ISO 400.

Comments

22 comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 10, 2007 at 1:27 AM

Awesome

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Tim McIntyre on July 10, 2007 at 7:06 AM

Fantastic shot Doug! The exposure ,detail and the bonus grasshopper put this over the top

Registered on August 19, 2006, 85 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Conway on July 10, 2007 at 7:32 AM

Wonderful... you will never regret the four hour drive back for these shots.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 347 Posts, 3913 Comments

Comment posted by Adam Grimm on July 10, 2007 at 7:55 AM

This is a great shot. Very sharp and nice composition. ...although I still think you could lose some off of the top and a bit off of the right edge. (more off of the top though) I like the simple background. Part of me wishes there was something more going on with the tree that he's on.
Many beautiful traits of this bird are being nicely shown. (I like the peaking out look but a little more bird would have been nice too. ...at least to where the feet were showing) Nice light too.
Some people could be turned off by the grasshopper but I like that it's there and that it is so easily idetified as such. I've been photographing a red-headed woodpecker for a few days and I've gotten some really nice shots but the ones with the bugs don't work well because I can't make out what bugs he's holding unless I really blow it up. This is so easy to see. A very clean image. Nice shot!
Best Regards, - Adam Grimm

Registered on March 2, 2007, 0 Posts, 85 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel Streifel on July 10, 2007 at 8:08 AM

Another beautiful capture of a great woodpecker.

Registered on October 8, 2006, 77 Posts, 886 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Wilson on July 10, 2007 at 9:31 AM

Great image, even a catchlight in the food's eye

Registered on May 17, 2006, 70 Posts, 1166 Comments

Comment posted by Glenn Bartley on July 10, 2007 at 10:55 AM

Very nice shot of a bird I hope to see one day.

Registered on June 29, 2004, 448 Posts, 1180 Comments

Comment posted by Keith A Anderson on July 10, 2007 at 11:44 AM

Awesome image, Doug. I'd be happy just to see one of these guys.

Registered on February 13, 2006, 166 Posts, 1818 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on July 10, 2007 at 12:27 PM

Hi Doug,

I like this - beautifully exposed, tastefully composed, and one of my favourite bird species to boot! I have about 15 pairs of these guys nesting around my property and I've been searching for the "just right" photographic situation to grab them for a few years. You've certainly found it! I'm envious! I suppose that if I had to find anything to criticize, I guess the blur on the closest foreground could be a little distracting to some, but it didn't bother me at all.

Thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Lee Daniels on July 10, 2007 at 12:42 PM

Another gorgeous shot!

Registered on December 31, 2003, 115 Posts, 1657 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on July 10, 2007 at 1:22 PM

Excellent!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by dan elster on July 10, 2007 at 2:02 PM

A catchlight in the grasshoppers eye! You've got to be kidding. Outstanding on every level Doug,

Registered on September 23, 2005, 299 Posts, 2443 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on July 10, 2007 at 8:52 PM

Great image Doug. Just for fun I'd like to see a tight crop of the bird's head with the hopper.

Pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Backlund on July 10, 2007 at 10:57 PM

For Pat: Here's a tighter crop, more than I like, but the detail is still pretty good. This was 1300 pixels on the long side before resizing to 720.

Registered on September 29, 2005, 252 Posts, 3380 Comments

Comment posted by Jon Swanson on July 11, 2007 at 7:38 PM

I like the portrait better. To me, the tree is the dominant part of the original image.

Registered on February 28, 2006, 34 Posts, 309 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Conway on July 12, 2007 at 11:30 AM

Amazing detail. The grasshopper is so perfectly positioned in the bill.

I have to say that the second crop is very compelling. One HAS to sit and look at it. It would make an incredible print.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 347 Posts, 3913 Comments

Comment posted by Kevin Thompson on July 12, 2007 at 10:02 PM

Fantastic image Doug!

Registered on March 15, 2005, 114 Posts, 2639 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Scholl on July 16, 2007 at 8:41 AM

Great capture Doug!!

Registered on December 7, 2003, 43 Posts, 132 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on July 16, 2007 at 2:01 PM

Great one, Doug... Congratulations!

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

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on July 20, 2007 at 11:21 AM

Congratulations on this beautiful shot Doug, the close up really convinced me!

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Walters on July 22, 2007 at 3:12 PM

Great shot! Great detail in the tighter crop!

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Spiecker on July 24, 2007 at 5:11 PM

Hi Doug, I have been offline and I missed this one. Great work and a well deserved EP! I like the detail in the repost but prefer the comp in the original post. Also the repost seems a bit over sharpened and crunchy on the feathers.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 366 Posts, 4649 Comments