For the past three weeks, I've been following the activity of a devastatingly beautiful Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), a pretty little female.  She's been stashing sunflower seeds in the cracks of an old-dead juniper, where one of our bird feeders hang.  Several times a day this little jewel stops by to cram seeds in these pine fissures, usually when the light is dim.  Early in these very cold Wind River Canyon mornings we will see her, and late in the day after the Sun has disappeared.  In winter the Sun doesn't reach the Wind River till after 11 o'clock, and by 3:15 p.m. the Sun has set.  It gets cold and dim down here, very quickly, this time of the year.

     These cold, grey conditions are not conducive to the art of wildlife photography, and she has challenged me on many, many occasions these past weeks.  I've spent many hours observing our new found friend, and lots of time freezing my buns off.  One thing to remember----batteries don't work well in the cold mountains, or anywhere else for that matter; be prepared!  Over three hundred frames have been shot so far of this little Downy Woodpecker.  As I wrote in last week's Wind River Canyon Blog, she makes a lousy model, but she is beautiful.

     While in town getting acupuncture for my knees, I picked up a suet block especially for her, and put it in an old bent-wire feeder (after straightening it out).  I hung it on the limb of the old-dead juniper that she, and all the other birds visit every day.  Struggling to zip up my new parka, it somehow took an inch long furrow out of the back of my hand!  I noticed the bloody mess as I reached for my forty-below boots.  

     And sure enough, as I was trying to stop the gushing (oozing maybe), my pretty little Downy was back, and the light was good.  A camera was on the kitchen counter, so I wrapped my hand in a paper towel and went back out into the snow.  Now keep in mind, this woodpecker has seen me nearly as many times as I've seen her.  I knew the afternoon before that she was letting me get inside her "personal space."  As long as I didn't slip and fall in a bloody mess in the snow this was going to be an event.  

     I was less than six feet from our little Downy Woodpecker, my favorite 70-200mm f/4 luckily the one I'd grabbed on the way out.  Working my way up the snowy hill towards her was exciting; her letting me into her world was something else.  Your heart speeds up at times like these, and learning to control this "buck fever" is the real trick.  

     Take long deep breaths, and concentrate your mind only on the behavior of your subject; be it lions, tigers or bears....or pretty woodpeckers.  Knowledge and observation cannot ever be replaced by crazy expensive cameras; learning about the wild animals is what this is all about:  Knowledge will get a person safely close to wildlife----guts could get you killed.

     After three weeks of being frozen, and a bloody hand, I finally got the photographs I envisioned when I first saw her; a portrait of a wild bird that is more free than me; and much prettier, wouldn't you say? Downy Woodpecker_female, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.Downy Woodpecker photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.      She's barely more than half a foot from beak to tail, yet look at those talons!  These birdie feet are made for climbing trees, nothing to be afraid of here.  Notice too, the depth-of-field caused by the f-stop of 5.6; a fine place for a portrait at this close a range.  The important stuff for a portrait is in-focus, our subject shown at her best.  If beauty is truly only skin deep, than what lies beneath?

*technical information----camera was a Canon 7D, the lens stated was an L-series Canon; bloody handheld.  Large RAW file worked in Canon's supplied and updated software, then tweaked in Lightroom.  

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Wind River Canyon Blog and all photography by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming

Thank you for reading my blog, and Happy Holidays!

MjB