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Picoides pubescens
A Downy Woodpecker feeding on an insect gall at Huntley Meadows Park, Fairfax County, Virginia USA. This individual is a male, as indicated by the small red patch on the back of its head.
Huntley Meadows Park, a 1,425 acre wetland area in Fairfax County, Virginia USA. Related Resource: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/huntl...
Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com
Spotted on Feb 1, 2012
Submitted on Feb 16, 2012
7 Comments
I watched my red-headed woodpeckers leave the suet feeders. They were flying in one of 4 directions, and I kept watching. I was in the front yard. Now I noticed two in the back yard, in their tree home. The male made it this winter. The female inspected it and they are both in there now. The other two come and go across the street. I think I have spotted their home in a dead tree in my neighbor's yards. That's about as wild as a city kid gets to be. :-)
I shoot RAW+JPG, so it is possible to adjust the white balance during post-processing. That said, I've never used Apple "Aperture" to adjust white balance ... usually I simply click the auto exposure adjustment. Unrelated topic, can anyone recommend some specific guidance for spotting Red-headed and Pileated Woodpeckers in the wild (that is, not at feeders)? The "All About Birds" Web site lists virtually identical habitat for most woodpeckers, so no help there.
If that is a newer, point-an-click, there might be a setting in the menus (not a button on the camera body) that will allow you to tinker with the white balance. For that hard hour of dusk/dawn, I will sometimes set mine manually to white balance "cloudy" and the whites look less blue. If I can, using my little point and click, I carry a pocket tripod about 6 inches tall, and set the 2 second delay shutter release. This eliminates the camera shake, and you can make the aperture a little bigger. I shot some nice, very low light pictures before with these newer point and click cameras. Range aside, they are very convenient. The more you zoom though, especially past the point where the camera lens is actually moving, the software zoom makes it more important to use shutter release and tripod or fencepost, or rock to stabilize the camera.
I'm not sure how to react to your comment, pawpaw99 -- is that a good thing? My new Panasonic DMC-ZS150 super-zoom camera is great but has a somewhat limited range of aperture settings. It doesn't always perform well in low light. Then again, you may be saying that I either over- or under-processed the image.
Yes I have. Several.
I love me some woodpeckers! I've been looking for Pileated- and Red-headed Woodpeckers. Both species have been spotted at HMP; so far, no luck. Have you posted any pictures of either species?
Love the woodpeckers. I'm seeing pairs of Downy Woodpeckers and Red Headed Woodpeckers around my neck of the world.