Even the woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head and keeps pecking away until he finishes the job he started - Coleman Cox
For a long time, I burst out laughing when a bird enthusiast excitedly talked about 'Peckers' (Short for woodpeckers). When I was growing up, slang for a man's private part was 'Pecker' so imagine my confusion when bird enthusiasts talked about flame-backed peckers or black-rumped peckers! 😂
Thankfully, I outgrew this juvenile fascination of the word 'Pecker' but developed an interest in the woodpecker family as my photographic targets. Their colorful personas and hammering on the trees always draws my attention.
Woodpeckers usually are always found in thick forests and are easy to spot but not so easy to photograph because of their constant, restless movement from tree to tree, looking for worms under tree bark. Even when they stay in one location, they keep hammering at the bark with their beak - constantly moving their head in a rapid movement like a power hammer.
So - usually many blurred shots happen before we manage to capture one good click.
I managed to track and photograph 3-4 species in a day last weekend. Here are the clicks...
Brown-capped woodpeckers
These are one of the smallest woodpeckers. They are in fact, called pigmy woodpeckers. They have an attitude and strike interesting poses, while they look for food...
Here is one more ...
Even their eyes are quite interesting. Just look at the smug expression with half-closed eyes in this click...
Yellow-crowned woodpecker
These beauties, almost the same size as the brown-capped, have a nice blond head...
As they hop around cluttered dry branches and flowers, it is a difficult task to focus on them but after a few attempts. I got a lovely frame of the woodpecker posing in a triangular frame..
Streak-throated woodpecker
This is a large woodpecker with a distinctive streaked pattern on it's throat and chest. It is a rarer bird to find in our parts compared to some other woodpeckers. So- I spent two whole days tracking it before getting this pose...
Notice the brown streaked pattern? Also note the flamboyant red hair-do. This dude seems to be very funky...
The female of the species is rather plain by comparison.
So - that is my collection of peckers (LOL) - This is only a part of the full collection. All captured within two days.
Capture of these clicks involved lot of off-road driving in jungles and trudging for miles on foot. It was exhausting but I enjoyed every minute of it. Do you think it was worth it? Have you attempted or would you attempt anything like this in photography? If so, please share your experience in comments.
Please comment freely and let me know your opinion. I will try to bring many different types of wildlife photos/macro/Astro posts to the community. Feedback and comments are welcome,. I am still learning many techniques and always value feedback from experts in this community.
Have a nice day everyone. Cheers!
