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Winter Birds of Niagara Falls

Winter Birds of Niagara Falls

More than a couple of months ago, when the mercury was hanging around in the mid -20°C range I met up with my good friend and fellow bird photographer Arni long before sunrise and headed towards Niagara Fall’s for a day of winter photography. If you have never ventured out with your camera in the dead of winter, I would highly recommend that you give it a try. There are a few minor technical challenges the cold presents, with reduced battery life and condensation when bringing the gear back into a warm temperature being the primary ones, however these are easily dealt with. Take spare batteries with you and keep them in pockets close to your body to keep them warm and before taking the cold gear back indoors, make sure you pack lenses and cameras back into their cases and don’t take them out until you’ve allowed enough time for the gear to reach room temperature. I always take the CF cards out of the camera while outside so I can start processing the day’s work without waiting for the gear to get re-acclimatized to the house temperature! By far the biggest challenge in winter photography is keeping yourself warm, so always have lots of layers of good clothing, warm boots, gloves and head coverings. A supply of hand warmers always comes in handy.

We arrived at a cemetery in Burlington before sunrise looking for Eastern Screech Owls, where both red morph and the more common grey morphs have been known to nest. We were unable to find the owls so headed on to Niagara Falls and arrived at Dufferin Island which is about a kilometre from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls and home to many birds.

The primary bird we were looking for was the Tufted Titmouse, a non-migratory bird whose historic range was in the central and eastern United States, however as winter food supplies have become more available, the Tufted Titmouse has been slowly moving its range northwards into Canada, primarily in the eastern Great Lakes region. The Titmouse prefers a wet climate and in fact you only find them in areas with more than 24″ annual rainfall, and even more common in areas with 32″ or more of annual rainfall. The Tufted Titmouse rarely ventures more than two kilometres from the nest in which it was born (which accounts for why the expansion of their range takes place very slowly).

Soon after picking a location on the island where the light and back ground were both ideal, we were able to attract a number of these beautiful birds with a little bird seed (there are numerous feeders in the area that are maintained through the winter months to ensure adequate food for the local birds). We were able to get a few decent images of the Tufted Titmouse. The following images were taken with a Canon 5D MkIII and 500mm f/4 lens (some with an attached 1.4x TC for an effective 700mm focal length). As much as possible I tried to use an aperture of f/8 or greater in order to provide enough depth of field to keep the whole bird in focus….at least in profile!

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The Tufted Titmouse is the largest of the Titmouse family and they are easily recognizable by their crest and black patch above the upper mandible.

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Their colouring is relatively subdued although mature adult birds have a golden yellow flash along the sides of their chest. Juvenile birds lack this colouration.

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The appearance of the males & females is very similar, so differentiation between the two is difficult.

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The normal diet of spiders & insects is not available in the winter months so the Titmouse release on seeds and frozen berries in the winter. The presence of winter feeders is important for them in the winter as they are non-migratory birds.

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The above image was taken at f/10 in order to get as much depth of field (DOF) as possible to keep the whole bird in sharp focus. With long telephoto lenses the DOF is very thin even at small apertures; in this case about 4cm (700mm focal length with a full frame camera at about 25′ away from the bird). I really needed an even smaller aperture as the tip of the tail appears soft. The next image was also taken at f/10 which is OK as all of the body of the bird is within the DOF so everything is sharp. Managing DOF with telephoto lenses is one of the most important factors in getting great photographic results yet is often overlooked by many. Fortunately with today’s cameras that are so good at high ISO’s it is much easier to balance the tricky relationship between shutter speed, aperture & ISO in order to get the best possible results.

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The Chickadees, Nuthatches & Creepers Gallery has more images of this bird as well as the Nuthatch pics shown later in this post.

It was a cold but beautiful winter day in Niagara and we were treated by a number of other birds who provided some great poses for Arni & me. Here are a few of them.

A Dark-eyed Junco with an over the shoulder look.

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….and another Junco enjoying the snow.

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Cardinals often top the list of people’s favourite birds, and in fact the Cardinal has the unique distinction of being the official state bird of seven American States, far more than any other bird. At one point in time there were four pairs of Cardinals at our location. The male Cardinal is best known for its vibrant red colour but the female with its more subdued colours is equally, if not more photogenic.

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The ice crystals on the beaks of these next few birds shows just how cold it was!

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For more Cardinals and Juncos check out the Sparrows, Grosbeaks, Buntings & Finches Gallery.

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a common bird however its propensity to be upside down most of the time always presents an interesting photo-op.

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On almost every perch they are facing in the downward direction.

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We also enjoyed a visit from a male Red-bellied Woodpecker.

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This particular male had a very vibrant red head and belly patch compared to others I’ve seen. The next image shows both patches with a complimentary red back ground provided by one of the male Cardinals! Check out the Woodpecker Gallery for more images.

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After a couple of hours in the freezing temperatures we warmed up at a local Tim Horton’s with lunch and large coffees and then just couldn’t resist a walk along the Niagara gorge from the Horseshoe Falls to the Rainbow Bridge. This was mostly to photograph Niagara Falls and the Niagara River, which was completely frozen over this year due to the uncharacteristic cold temperatures. Frozen falls images will be the subject of an upcoming blog post. From a birders perspective it was an unexpected surprise to see the fastest animal on the planet perched in a tree along the rim of the gorge…the Peregrine Falcon. As we were only expecting to use wide angle lenses along the gorge we were not prepared to photograph birds, so this Peregrine Falcon was captured with a Fuji X-E2 and 55-200mm zoom lens.

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More Peregrine Falcons can be seen in the Hawks, Falcons & Kites gallery.

After a cold but productive day at the falls Arni and I headed back home, taking a brief detour back to Woodland Cemetery in hopes of seeing the Screech Owl. Fortunately we were able to find the grey morph sleeping in his tree. Not the most photogenic poses, but it’s always great to see another owl.

Sleeping in a gnarly tree cavity.

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….and a rare day time peak from the very nocturnal Screech Owl.

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More of this owl as well as pictures of a red morph Eastern Screech Owl can be seen in the Owl Gallery.

I trust you all have an enjoyable summer and didn’t mind this blog post looking back on the very cold winter we experienced this year.

Some Recent Birds

Some Recent Birds

Well, as it is for everyone, time slips by at what seems like an ever increasing pace and we find ourselves already into February while Christmas feels like it was only yesterday. It’s also been over a month since our last blog post and although I have a number planned for the upcoming months, there just hasn’t been enough time to prepare them, so I thought I would post a few quick bird images taken over the last month or two.

Before Christmas I spent a morning at Lynde Shores Conservation Area with Joe & Harv, two wonderful photographers who I’ve known for many years and have learned much from when it comes to capturing great bird photographs. We had a terrific time kibitzing, telling stories, arguing over camera gear and even taking a few pictures in the process. The images that follow are a few of them.

Deb’s favourite bird is probably the Black Capped Chickadee (BCCH) and I never tire of trying to get a good picture of one. They are extremely cute and friendly little birds that dart from branch to branch and follow you along through the forest paths and readily landing on your hand if it contains some black oiled Sunflower seeds.

From a technical perspective, the close proximity of blacks and whites on the Chickadee presents an exposure challenge. How do you preserve the details in the whites without underexposing the blacks and how do you expose to see detail in the blacks without blowing out the highlights in the whites? The short answer is that you can’t, especially in strong light. An overcast sky is your best friend in cases like this! Personally, overexposed whites that present as white areas with no visible detail ruin pictures more than anything else, so my rule of thumb is to always expose for the whites and if needed improve the dark areas in post processing (this is another reason to always shoot in RAW format as doing so provides about 3-4 stops of exposure adjustment on the computer).

Compositionally, practice taking shots in both landscape and portrait orientations. This is easy with birds like Chickadees that will allow you to get close to them and provide you the privilege of ‘cropping in the camera’. When getting this close make sure you move your focus point to allow for proper positioning of the bird in the frame. There is nothing worse that being treated to taking full frame images of a bird in portrait orientation only to find you’ve placed the bird in the middle of the frame and have no margins left for cropping on the computer. With today’s high megapixel camera sensors, you may be happy to shoot everything in landscape orientation and simply crop for portraits later but doing so always costs by way of reduced detail.

The following four images show two portrait and two landscape images with the bird facing in opposite directions for each similar orientation. If you make a practice of getting these different views in the field, you can be relatively certain of getting some good ‘keepers’ every time out.

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In the same family of birds as the Chickadee we find the White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU), which happens to be my Mom’s favourite bird.

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They are known for spending most of their time upside down on three trunks. In fact you may not recognize the bird when perched as it is above, but it certainly looks more familiar in the next two images as that’s the way we see them most often.

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They look very different when foraging for bugs the way the other birds do as seen below.

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Another friendly bird in our area is the Blue Jay (BLJA) which will gladly take peanuts from your hand. Their brilliant blues and superb primary wing feather patterns also make them very photogenic. The first two Blue Jay images are very similar portraits however the first is a much better photograph due to the more natural appearing body shape of the bird (the disproportionately wide neck in the second created by the forward posture of the head is distracting). Also the dark back ground along the lateral edges of the first frame provides a natural vignette effect which is pleasing. It’s enjoyable to be able to choose from a number of similar images to pick the best one and this can only happen by taking lots of images!

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The beautiful blue, white and black feather patterns of the Blue Jay.

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The Blue Jay gets its vibrant blue hues as light is refracted when passing through the unique structure of its feathers and not from blue pigments in the feathers as most presume. The next time you find a Blue Jay feather on a trail, crush it up with your hand and watch the blues turn grey as you alter the structure of the feather and hence the refractive properties of the feather. You will be surprised!

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This Red-bellied Woodpecker has been a popular resident at Lynde Shores for a while now, however this was the first time I’ve been able to photograph this beautiful bird. This first image shows the characteristic red belly from which it gets its name.

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The male and female of this species are similar other than the cap, the male has a red cap while the female’s is grey. These images are of the male.

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Interestingly, the males forage on tree trunks while the females prefer the tree limbs. Males also have longer beaks and wider tongues than females.

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The Red-bellied Woodpecker is near the northern limits of its normal range so we don’t often get a chance to see them around the Durham region .

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The darker brown eye of this bird indicates that it is an adult.Red-bellied 12

Now that winter is upon us, bird photographers often turn their attention to owls, especially the Northern Owls (i.e., Great Grey, Snowy and Northern Hawk Owls) that will often get displaced southwards from their Arctic breeding grounds when food supplies are scarce. The environmental situations that arise to force more owls south tend to become acute about every eight to ten years. These years during which a disproportionate number of a given owl species arrives this far south s known as an irruption. This winter is an irruption year for Snowy Owls with many being found in Southern Ontario. So the goal this winter is to get some great images of the Snowy Owl. Unfortunately it hasn’t happened yet although we’ve been out looking a couple of times!  The following two images were taken just after Christmas and are both cropped images taken at a distance of about 70 yards…..much too far away for a good image.

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The most enjoyable part of this day, during which we traveled about 400km and saw ten or twelve different Snowy Owls was that were joined by our friends Arni & Dianne. So the times we spent standing out in the very sub-zero temperatures were off set by lunch in Angus and hot chocolate and coffee at Arni & Dianne’s place.

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This past Friday Deb & I spent another day travelling around looking for Snowy Owls and although we saw one owl, there were no photo opportunities. That’s the nature of wildlife photography but it’s always fun to get a day out enjoying creation. Our day was cut short by the weather as an intense snow storm hit while we were travelling from Minesing to Orillia, forcing us to head south on HWY 400 to get out of the storm and head home. Here is a short clip of the snow we found while out looking for Snowy’s 🙂

Sometimes, when you take the time to scout out the perfect location, place a unique looking perch where the lighting is perfect and there is great separation from the background and you’ve created the ideal outdoor studio for bird photography, other ‘models’ come along with well groomed manes to show off their best poses for the camera…..always make sure you oblige them!

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All the images in today’s post were taken with the Canon 5D Mk III body and Canon EF 500mm f4 L IS lens (the Snowy Owl images also used the 1.4X TC to provide 700mm). The video clip was taken with an iPhone 6.

Some Florida Birds

Some Florida Birds

Every year we look forward to spending time in Florida over the March Break. Our typical schedule is to spend three or four days on the Atlantic coast in Melbourne and then a week at our timeshare in Kissimmee. These locations provide easy access to our favourite bird photography sites which include the Viera Wetlands, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and Joe Overstreet to name a few. March is a great time for bird photography as many of the birds are in their annual breeding plumage and the winter migrants have not yet left for their flights north. This winter we were able to photograph a number of different birds, and although no new species were captured we did manage to photograph Black Skimmers skimming, something we’d been trying to do for many years. Todays post is a compilation of the birds we saw this March, with the exception of the skimmers which will be part of another post.

Over the years we’ve photographed many Roseate Spoonbills, but always in flight or perched in trees. This was the first time we were able to get close to them on the ground (Blackpoint Trail, Merritt Island).

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Great Blue Heron Family (Viera Wetlands).

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Another Viera favourite is the Limpkin, which is one of two birds that are locally endangered in Florida that eat Apple Snails almost exclusively. This first image catches the Limpkin shaking the rain drops off.

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The other Apple Snail enjoying, locally endangered Florida bird, is the Snail Kite. This one was seen at Joe Overstreet.

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Other Snail Kite images from past years can be found in the Hawks, Falcons & Kites Gallery. While at Joe Overstreet we found this juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

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Another common Florida Woodpecker is the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Merritt Island).

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The American Bittern is a large bird that is not easily seen as it blends so well into its chosen surroundings where they extend their necks to parallel the grass, which along with their striated coloration makes them almost invisible (Viera Wetlands).

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A bird that is seemingly never inconspicuous is the Anhinga, which because it lacks oil secreting glands to waterproof its feathers, must dry out in the sun after being in the water (Viera Wetlands).

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America’s official bird, the Bald Eagle is a regular patroller of the Viera Wetlands airspace.

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One of the cutest birds in Viera was this little Pied-billed Grebe.

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If the Grebe is a bird everyone likes, perhaps the other end of the spectrum belongs to the gulls, which rarely garner much attention, although when one flies overhead with a big fish, you just have to take the shot (Joe Overstreet).

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These Terns were photographed at Viera and Joe Overstreet.

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To close this post, something completely different; the Florida Soft Shelled Turtle (Viera Wetlands). It is the largest soft shelled turtle in North America and is very fast on both land and in the water as evidenced by the webbed feet visible in the picture.

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I trust you’ve enjoyed this rather eclectic grouping of some of the birds we enjoyed seeing in Florida this year. In the next post we will feature three birds which provided some memorable photographic opportunities, the Painted Bunting, Little Green Heron and Black Skimmer.

Pileated Woodpecker, Gray Jay and Mizzy Lake Landscapes

Pileated Woodpecker, Gray Jay and Mizzy Lake Landscapes

Deb and I got up early on Friday morning of the Thanksgiving Weekend and headed to Mizzy Lake in Algonquin Park to watch the sunrise and hopefully see a bull Moose. We didn’t see any Moose however enjoyed a wonderful morning and were able to take a few pictures along the way.

The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America and is about the size of a crow.  Woody Woodpecker is perhaps the most famous Pileated Woodpecker! They are fairly common in Ontario however we don’t often get to see them up close.  Deb spotted this one who was working on a fairly isolated Spruce tree, so it was just a matter of waiting for him to fly to another location allowing the opportunity to get some in flight images with a nice clear back ground, which is quite unusual as they are most often seen in the deep forest.

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The Gray Jay is a common bird in Algonquin park and is a very friendly bird that readily comes to your hand for a peanut.  In fact they often follow you along the trails, especially if you have food for them as shown in this short video clip taken with my iPhone.

 

 

Most of the Gray Jays in Algonquin Park are banded, usually with two coloured bands on one or both legs. The bands normally indicate the year and location the birds were banded which allows researchers to monitor the life spans and migration patterns of the birds. It was nice to find a few non-banded birds which make photographers happy as the bands create visual distractions in photographs.

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The Mizzy Lake Trail is one of our favourite trails in Algonquin Park and it is accessed from Highway 60 at the Arowhon Road. The trail, like much of Algonquin is characterized by Spruce Bogs.  Below are some sunrise and early morning images.

Just before sunrise.

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To conclude this post, let’s start a bit of a discussion on depth of field especially as it relates to landscape photography. Typically we want everything in a landscape image to be in focus which requires a small aperture in the range of f/18 to f/22. Also, the shorter the focal length of the lens the greater the depth of field is at the same aperture (compared to a longer lens). The small aperture and the desire to use low ISO’s for better image quality results in longer exposure times which is why it is mandatory for a landscape photographer to carry a tripod at all times. Also using a tripod makes you consider the composition and take more time to set up the best possible shot that achieves the goal you have in mind for the finished product. The next three images share the same composition and differ functionally only my the aperture at which they were taken.

f/22, 1/25, ISO100 ,29mm. Everything in the image is in focus. The whole scene is the object and your eyes wander throughout the image.

 

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f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO100, 29mm. The shallower depth of field starts to make the red leaves become the object of the image.

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f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO100, 29mm. The entire middle and back ground are out of focus and the red leaves become the only object receiving all of the observer’s attention.

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So the question becomes, of the three images, which is your favourite? That is a very subjective question and there is obviously no right or wrong answer, it is simply a matter of preference. As a photographer it is good practice to take the same image at different apertures as well as focusing on different objects within the frame in order to use fluctuating depths of field to your advantage and achieving very different results. It is surprising how this practice will improve your landscape skills and help you develop a better eye for that perfect landscape image.

The bird images in this post were taken with a Canon 1D Mk III and a 500mm f/4 L lens with attached 1.4x TC for an effective focal length of 700mm, using a Jobu monopod and Jobu Jr. gimbal head.  The landscape images were taken with a Canon 5D Mk III and 16-35 f/2.8 lens on a Gitzo travellers tripod with Markins ball head.

 

Black-backed Woodpecker Video

One of the benefits of purchasing a Canon 5D Mk III was the ability to capture HD video as well as the usual still images.  This was somewhat intriguing as I’d never owned a video camera, nor taken any video other than with an iPhone.

The hope is to attempt to obtain video clips of the objects we photograph, which in the case of birds and wildlife will provide more behavioural information than is possible to convey with still images.

Here is the first attempt at such a video, which was taken with the 5D & 500mm lens and Gitzo tripod.  The video was edited with Photoshop CS6 which now includes a relatively  easy to use video editor.

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The video was taken in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario Canada.

Regular photographs of the Black-backed Woodpecker can be viewed in the Woodpeckers Gallery

 

Black-backed Woodpecker

Black-backed Woodpecker

For many years now, every time Deb & I head into Algonquin Park for a day trip, we have been on the look out for the uncommon and equally elusive Black-backed Woodpecker.  We had struck out every time until this past Victoria Day Weekend when Ellesse & Jeff and Deb & I were fortunate enough to see a pair while on our annual Spring trip to the park to see moose.  Unfortunately I was unable to get any pictures of the woodpeckers, so Deb & I returned two days later just after sunrise and were blessed once again to find the Black-backed Woodpeckers and this time their nest as well.  It was a real treat to watch them for a few hours and observe their unique behaviour as they tended to the nest and the eggs they were taking turns incubating.

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The above two ‘peekaboo’ shots are of the male, who is identified by the yellow/orange crown, while the female crown is black.  The above two pictures, although compositionally similar, are taken from opposite sides of the tree resulting in differing back grounds and completely different lighting (front lighting in the first and back lighting in the second).  Over all my preference is for the second shot, but by way of practice, when given the opportunity always photograph the subject from as many different angles and lighting configurations as possible.  You will often be surprised by the results, even when breaking the unwritten rules of photography!

Black-backed Woodpeckers are a medium-sized woodpecker averaging about ten inches long with a wing span of seventeen inches.  As their name suggests they have entirely black backs with a white chest and barred flanks. Their beaks are relatively long and they have a prominent white cheek mark. Another interesting fact regarding this bird is that they have only three toes.

The following images are of the female Black-backed Woodpecker.

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Black-backed Woodpeckers carve out a new nest every year in April or May, generally in a dead tree or a burnt tree.  Although they typically live in the coniferous trees of boreal forests, they are known for preferring areas recently damaged by forest fires.  The nests are generally located fairly low to the ground.  The female lays three or four eggs which are incubated by both parents for 12-14 days. Interestingly the male alone incubates the eggs during the night. Once born, both adults feed the chicks which fledge after about twenty-four days.

As already mentioned, Black-backed Woodpeckers only have three toes and it was harder than expected to get a good shot demonstrating that.  This next shot shows the bird sticking his foot out seemingly just to show off his three toes for the camera!

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The next images are of the male.

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More woodpeckers can be viewed in the Woodpecker Gallery.

The images in this post were taken using both 1D Mk III and 5D Mk III bodies and 400/5.6 and 500/4 lenses in various lens body combinations.  It was a very dark gloomy day, with the exception of about twenty minutes of sunlight over the time we were at the nest site. This resulted in higher ISO’s than usual, with some of the images in this series taken at ISO 4000.  Fortunately the newer cameras function extremely well at ISO’s that were unusable with the technology available just a few years ago.

As mentioned above, we found the Black-backed Woodpeckers while in the park looking for moose. Here is one of them taken with the 5D and 70-200/2.8.

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