Pic of the day

                                                                                  Arizona Woodpecker, Photo 2

Arizona Woodpecker, Photo 1

   Arizona Woodpecker – Madera Canyon, Arizona:  I photographed this Arizona Woodpecker near the Santa Rita Lodge in southeast Arizona.  If you have an older field guide the bird may be identified as a Strickland’s Woodpecker.  The 42^nd Supplement of the American Ornithologists Union split the Strickland’s into two groups placing the Arizona Woodpecker at the northern end of the birds range and the Strickland’s at the southern end of the range.   The Arizona/Stickland’s Woodpecker range is from southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico, south through central Mexico.  The bird was originally named for British scientist Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811-1853).

   These two images show the woodpecker at rest (photo 1), and drumming (photo 2).  The drumming photo shows the head in motion as it reverberates against the tree.  To drum, woodpeckers typically strikes its target around 20 times per second.  I used a slow shutter speed to take both photos. As I made the exposure for image 2 the woodpeckers head was still, but during the exposure the woodpecker started drumming, thus exposing the blurred motion over the still image of the woodpeckers head.  Sometimes you just get lucky.  To learn more about the mechanics of woodpecker drumming, go to: http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2011/02/10/woodpecker_drumming_inspires_shock_absor
Also see May 19 post of an Arizona Woodpecker.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 500mm f4 with 1.4 Teleconverter