The Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) is a popular woodpecker about the size of a crow, inhabiting deciduous forests in eastern North America, the boreal forests of Canada and parts of the Pacific coast.
Pileated Woodpeckers fledge their young in holes in trees. In April, a hole made by the male attracts a female for mating and raising their young. Once the brood is raised the Pileated Woodpeckers abandon the hole and will not use it the next year. These abandoned holes, however, provide readymade homes for many forest song birds in future years. Ecologically, the entire woodpecker family is important to the well being of many other bird species.
Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens +
TC-20E III 2x teleconverter
on tripod with Jobu Black Widow HD gimbal head.
1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400
Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens +
TC-20E III 2x teleconverter
on tripod with Jobu Black Widow HD gimbal head.
1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320
I took the above photographs from a distance with the equivalent focal length of a 900mm when taking the Nikon DSLR DX crop factor of 1.5x into account. We were far enough away not to present a danger to the birds in their nest high above the ground and some distance into the forest.
The nest was in the trunk of a dead tree with sightlines pretty well limited to a boardwalk that was part of a trail running through the forest at The Pinery Provincial Park, near the town of Grand Bend in Southwestern Ontario.
The top image was taken in the low light of the early morning after a heavy overnight rainfall that had lasted until after sunrise. The lower was taken in the early afternoon with the light getting rather harsh, however, the opportunity to take photos of this family was too good to pass up.
© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
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