And this is what it looks like in action. It was tough to shoot this bird as they don't sit still, they always seem to be banging their head against a tree.
Turbo
An accounting of outings taken with guests of Turbo's Track and Tour. All photo's on the site are copyrighted by the original poster, unless specifically mentioned in write up. I do not claim to be a photographer, the intent is to provide evidence of what I can find for you! I'd love to get comments on what is presented here. I'd like to thank Russell for finding the originator of the following quote: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing." -- Sir Rannulph Fiennes
Thursday 30 October 2014
Black-Backed Woodpecker, Varying Hare (20141030) Trip to a local park
I managed to talk Tim into a short walk this morning as there had been a number of desirable sightings at one of our local city parks. I was late getting to the park as I had to go back to the house and pick up my boots. The morning promised very challenging light as there was a heavy frost producing fog present. I found Tim in the woods and we had a brief discussion regarding strategy. We were soon beset by a small flock of birds begging for some attention. We were delighted to find this leucistic Red-breasted Nuthatch.
Of course the Black-capped Chickadees were in full force.
Shortly after finding one of our target birds: a Black-Backed Woodpecker, and while trying to get into position for some images this little Varying Hare made an appearance. You can see that it is already starting to show some of it varying colouration, just waiting to put those "snowshoes" to work.
While all of these great critters were wonderful distractions the star of the morning was this Black-backed Woodpecker.
Here is a the best look of the birds "underside" that I captured, these are areas an individual doesn't often get to see.
A full profile shot. This is a first ever for the Blog, so I am throwing in a couple of extra shots :)
And this is what it looks like in action. It was tough to shoot this bird as they don't sit still, they always seem to be banging their head against a tree.
After the BBWP left we were once again visited by the smaller birds here is another image of the Redbreasted Nuthatch, showing the white areas of leucism.
As we were returning to the trucks we met up with a couple of gents that had found the BBWP working away inside a tree trunk. I don't know if they excavate a hole for wintering or not. I will have to check in with Gus to see if this is the case.
I also took a bit of a video which can be found here.Although we only found one of our target birds, we were treated to a couple of unexpected pleasures as well. It all comes out in the wash. What a terrific morning on a day that looked like it was going to be a bust! Get out somewhere into nature this weekend!
Turbo
And this is what it looks like in action. It was tough to shoot this bird as they don't sit still, they always seem to be banging their head against a tree.
Turbo
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Especially like the last pic Paul. It is very cool. Peeking out of the hole!!
ReplyDeleteRussell