The Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)
D300 500mm. iso 400, 1 / 160 f 7.1
Since I have been fortunate to come to the feeder several copies of the woodpecker and I can enjoy them in almost all sessions there performed.
Belonging to the order of the Piciformes is perhaps the most common and widespread woodpecker in our geography, but no less attractive. Share with the rest of the peaks the characteristic tone livery very intense and defined.
is equipped with a powerful chisel-shaped beak capable of drilling the hardest woods, allowing you to settle in almost any type of forest. From mountain pine forests of river.
have two toes forward and two steps back allowing them, aided by the tail (they use for balance), climbing up the trunks with ease.
In the next picture we see the typical posture of woodpeckers when climbs a tree trunk.
D300, 270mm. iso 800, 1 / 320 at f8
It feeds mainly on insects and larvae that look in the wood of trees or under bark. his tongue, long and saw-tooth profile is adapted to search the precious small holes larvae. During the winter expands its diet to all types of fruits you can find: pine nuts, acorns, hazelnuts, ... also pierces the bark of trees to extract sap and in summer you can even prey on chicks and eggs of other birds, getting an extra intake of protein.
morphological differences between males and females are minimal. Plumage have exactly the same, except a red stripe with males in the neck.
female male
D300, 500mm. iso 400 and f8
Although we try to shoot the woodpeckers in many ways, the best (in my opinion) to attract the trough.
The first is to locate an area where we see often, or rather hear, because they are rather shy. His drumming is unmistakable, and help us in this task.
Taking time to observe them with binoculars, not difficult to find a tree that usually climb. and if you look in the trunk will see the marks and holes that make the peak.
is in the trees where we must begin to fatten and ride around a feeder.
I use the principle lard encanta.La introduce them into the holes located and once we begin to enter so assiduously substituted for peanuts, which is healthier and also (and this is the main reason) does not appear in photos with the entire beak full of fat, that there is nothing aesthetic.
Here we see a picture of the moment that enters the butter. if you look you can see an indentation in the trunk and a small remnant of fat at the peak, almost negligible.
D300, 500mm. iso 400, 1 / 125 at F7.1
Once they learn that there is no food, it's about time they enter the makeshift trough we ride in the vicinity of the tree. and not delay in taking the various innkeepers we place them, providing images than usual.
D300, 320mm. Iso 400, 1 / 320 at F7.1
D300, 320mm. Iso 400, 1 / 320 at F7.1
D300, 500mm. iso 400, 1 / 160 f 7.1
As usually happens in all species, each individual has his particular behavior and the degree of distrust of foreign elements that may appear in the vicinity of their territory.
What to me to run, maybe in another place and with others not work as well. In my case
females that haunt the area tend to be more confident than males, and is not frightened by the noise of the camera, in fact I've only podidio males photographed in two or three times and did not hold much.
In this picture we see a male approaching wondering whether or not the feeder, time to photograph him advantage over the moss-covered rock aesthetic.
D300, 500mm. iso 500, 1 / 250 at F7.1
and ends with another typical pose of woodpeckers, of course, perched on a tree trunk.
D300, 470mm. iso 200, 1 / 250 at F7.1
