Yay – it’s Woody! Of course, for that to mean anything you’ve got to be old enough to remember Woody Woodpecker. But you know, I’m right when I say it’s Woody. Or, to be more precise, this is the lignin pecker who voiced the cartoon (visually, Woody was more of a Pileated Woodpecker).
Our friend here is what we call an Acorn Woodpecker. And how do I know that it was an Acorn Woodpecker who voiced Woody’s signature "ha ha ha HA ha!" laugh? The source of this insight lies far back in the mists of time (say, oh, three years back) when I was hiking through an oak forest. I had just come to the crest of a rocky bluff, the wind tickling the nape of my sun reddened neck and the scent of huckleberry heavy in the air. Spreading before me, a tapestry of green and gold, ripe with the promise of pleasures untold … Sorry – got carried away practicing for when I become a romance novelist. Where was I? Oh, right. I’d just come clumping up a dry, gravel-strewn path when I heard what absolutely sounded like Woody Woodpecker laughing in the trees. Upon further investigation I saw that the culprit was the aforementioned Acorn Woodpecker. Nailed him! How cool is that? Clearly Woody’s creator, Walter Lantz, thought a Pileated Woodpecker LOOKED best but that an Acorn Woodpecker SOUNDED best and combined the two. Genius.
This guy was flying around a field when I saw him and I spent many a long minute trying to pan with sufficient accuracy to get a clean and in-focus shot as he thrummed by. Finally succeeded. This kind of shot is tough because you have to be able to pan the camera quite accurately. These birds move fast and there’s just no way you can snag a shot by holding the camera steady. Adding to the problem is the fact that you’ve got a very narrow depth of field. This is all due to physics. Fast exposure, long focal length and limit to the "film" sensitivity implies a narrow depth of field. And does the woodpecker fly where you might like him to? Of course not. There’s no telling how far he’ll be from you. You’ve either got to be prefocused and lucky or very quick at manually focusing. I opted for the latter.
Before you leave the pic, note the interesting position of the wings. Although at first glance it looks like both his wings are straight up, in a sort of super up-beat, his left is actually straight up while his right is horizontal – pointing right at the camera. I’ll bet you can make out the outline of the feather tips now that you know to look for them.
- And that’s today’s word from the bird
Pretty cool. I doubt I have the hand-eye coordinationg to catch a shot like that.
.-= Drakey´s last blog ..Some New Developments =-.