woodpecker in the snow

[Sushigaijin]

Since I live in inner-city Chicago, interesting birds are hard to find among the sparrows and pigeons...how thrilled I was when I heard this guy chirp - it's actually the first bird that I have ID'd by it's voice, normally I just look for bird feeders and food sources to find the birds. The trees on the block have a good amount of scaling, so I assume that this is a regular haunt for this guy..can't wait until the snow stops so I can get out again!!

Chicago is getting about five inches of snow today, with severe winds. I wrapped my camera in a produce bag, cut a hole out for the viewfinder and lens, and went from there. The blowing snow totally obscured the lens three or four times in the fifteen minutes I spent shooting, and I took about 60 photos. Not surprisingly, most were not very good - a little water on the lens is a terrible thing!! These are with my 1.7x teleconverter, at 734mm. F/3.7, ISO200. Shutter sat at about 1/400. In perfect conditions I would shoot at F/4-F/5, so these are not as sharp as I would like. I would also not shoot over 700mm unless it was necessary (as it was today) because there is some loss of sharpness at that high magnification. I was just happy to get the shot, I haven't even turned the camera on in over a week...just been too cold (12f has been a pretty consistant high temperature.)

Before anyone asks, PP was limited to levels, curves, and removing of CA. all are cropped to some extent, none are smaller than a 5 mpx finished photo.

I would be grateful for an ID, my bird books are packed because I am moving next week, and my bird ID skills are weak.











edit: wow where did I learn how to spell? spelling corrected.

[Copy_Kot]

Wow is it hard focusing through snow, you did a good job getting an image of a hairy woodpecker with the weather like that. I like the first two.

[Sushigaijin]

Thanks for the ID copy, I was still on the fence regarding the downy/hairy differences...this was the LARGEST woodpecker I have seen in the city, I guess that should have given it away. I kinda like the one with the shingles in the background myself, it shows the weather the most. And yes, it was absolutely miserable trying to focus - and every drop of snow on the lens creates a huge smudge on the photo..

here's two more.

[Loupey]

Nice job, Erik.

I enjoyed the middle shot imbedded among the others - kinda looks like a time lapse sequence - a before and after shot of the woodpecker desperate for his food

[paulnj]

Definately a hairy WP!

Nice find and nice images Erik.