HAIRY WOODPECKER FEEDING ITS FLEDGLING BIRDSEED
An adult hairy woodpecker along with his single fledgling have been eating bird seed at our platform feeder as of late and not always together. The male is ide...
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An adult hairy woodpecker along with his single fledgling have been eating bird seed at our platform feeder as of late and not always together. The male is identifiable by the red feathers at the back of his head which in this photo at this angle are barely visible. About 20 percent of their diet is made up of seeds and fruit. The remaining 80 percent consists of insects. When they are together the youngster fluffs up and begs to be fed.
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Jul, 2020Views
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People's Choice in Feeding Photo Challenge
People's Choice in Juvenile Birds Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Superior Skill
All Star
Virtuoso
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HuaweiP30Lite
December 25, 2022
How come the one who feeds is usually thinner than the one. who is fed?!
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Paul_Joslin
December 25, 2022
Good question. It is not uncommon among some birds for the adult to weigh less than its young as the latter approach fledgling stage. I suspect it is an adaptation to enable the young to live off of their own body fat as they struggle to become proficient at finding their own food when the adults cease to feed them.
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Behind The Lens
Location
On the back porch railing in Anchorage, Alaska.Time
It was late afternoon on a sunny day when the woodpeckers alighted on the railing next to the bird feeder..Lighting
The lighting was such as to catch the eye glint on the eyes of both birds. The softly lit green background added a nice touch to the photo.Equipment
My standard photo equipment in the field consists of one camera and one lens, namely a Nikon D500 and a Nikkor 18 to 300 mm lens. The lens is sharp enough, camera tracking abilities good enough and the quality of vibration reduction system sufficient to catch the variety of photographic conditions I encounter in the field. Using a single ultra zoom lens also means not having to take time to switch lenses in the middle of a field shoot or risk getting dust on the photo processor. Almost all of my more than 100 ViewBug challenge wins and contest successes have been achieved with this equipment.Inspiration
When I saw the mother Hairy woodpecker taking mouthfuls of bird seed and feeding them to her fledgling I was overjoyed. Little in the way of photos can out compete that of a mother taking care of her young.Editing
Every photo I take that I have selected for appearing in ViewBug or elsewhere gets some amount of post processing. At the minimum it gets cropped, lens type adjusted for and lighting cum color balance corrected.In my camera bag
In addition to the Nikon camera and Nikkor lens my camera bag includes spare SD cards, camera batteries and camera lens cleaner. My bag is of the sling type which enables me to swing it to the front and reach the camera in a moments notice. I have removed the bulk of the camera padding and replaced it with a gardener's knee pad. While serving as camera padding during travel, when I am shooting onsite the pad sometimes serves as something to sit, kneel or lie on. I rarely take long exposures so most of the time I leave my tripod.Feedback
Some photos look better and get their message across more strongly by cropping tight, including as in this case cutting away about a third of each of the two birds.
