Bushel of Acorn Woodpeckers

The weather outside is frightful. The wind is blowing and scattered rain is coming down from light gray skies. I don't mind photographing when it is snowing but pouring rain is another story. Today is a perfect day to sit by the warm fire and work indoors. I always have a lot of indoor work to catch up on! Here are a few more from my bushels of Acorn Woodpeckers. All of these woodpecker images were photographed at either F 5.6 or f 8.0 to allow the background of Bay Laurel trees to blur out into a pleasing background. The rainy image of the Madrone Tree was created with a Canon 28-105 lens with an f stop of F 11.0. The main focus point was the raindrops on the window pane. May you have a blessed day. chris All of the woodpecker images were created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens. Manfrotto 190 XPROb Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera settings used- AV mode, ISO 400,f 8.0 or 5.6. Shutter speed varied .

Bushel of Wodpeckers

Wednesday morning when I was in the photoblind I was excited to hear the call waka, wak, waka echo by. It is the call of the Acorn Woodpecker. Hearing that call I finished off the morning by creating a set up using some feeders and and a small oak trunk that I knew they would feel comfortable using. When I arrived at the blind on Thursday morning I could see them using it as I approached the photoblind. I spent the next couple of mornings photographing them. Surprisingly a group of Acorn Woodpeckers is called a bushel. Who thinks up these things? Acorn woodpeckers are very unique in that they are a communal bird with all the members of the group collecting food in the form of acorns and storing them in central locations usually a tree called a granary. They will either put it into a cavity or excavate tiny holes in the trunk and force hundreds of acorns into place. Their breeding behavior is equally amazing and complex, with all the breeding males and females combining efforts to raise the young. They are quite unusual among wood peckers in that they live this way as groups rather than living as pairs or solitary birds. Visually they are quite striking and are one beautiful bird. some people have nicknamed them clown birds. I just think they are pretty cool. I ended up with a lot of images. This one is my favorite because it emphasizes there communal living structure. God's love and blessings to all,chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 220mm. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 400,F5.6 at 1/400th of a sec. The camera was supported by a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead.