Thursday, January 15, 2009

Downy Woodpecker...

It was about 8 below zero this morning when I got up but it had warmed up to 2 degrees when I decided to go out and photograph the birds attracted to the feeder. I put out a suet block the other day and this downy woodpecker came to it while I was out photographing. I was out for about 30 minutes or so and ended up getting only four photos worth keeping, I trashed the rest. Needless to say my fingers went numb even with gloves so I had to call it quits before I got frostbite.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi John, Lovely contrast with the woodpecker and the tree trunk. Great photo.

Mary said...

You are a brave soul! I'll take my photos through glass in the warmth of my home and be happy with the results...it beats freezing! We are down to the teens today and it is too cold for me! I could not stand anything below freezing! Hope your fingers and toes warm up and recover for more great photo taking :-)

Anonymous said...

Your story made me recollect a woodpecker I saw in Nowember this year who ate BREAD. I thought it is impossible for this kind of bird to anything but insects but I saw with my own eyes as that guy in a red cap picked a bit of bread supposed for sparrows and such then place it in a rind crack and then eat it!
Hope it felt good after such a lunch..

The Birdlady said...

Well, the effort payed off...but I heard you are expecting -40 there, so stay inside less you freeze and we're deprived of your gorgeous photos.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah, numb fingers. Been there and done that! It looks like it was worth the discomfort. Nice image, John.

Stacey Olson said...

Great photo, so glad you went through the effort.. You know, when we had below zero temps here, I couldn't get any keeper photos either.. wonder if maybe it wasn't me after all, and the cold was effecting the camera..(work with me here lol...)

Arija said...

I hope your hands recovered and also that you have fur lined gloves.
At least you got a good shot at this cute woodpecker.