Outdoor Ontario
Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: Shortsighted on January 08, 2024, 02:06:38 PM
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After I was finished spying on the crow I walked back toward the garage door and just then a Pileated woodpecker announced its arrival across the street. It was interested in yet another skeletal, split tree. Fortunately I had my camera in hand even though the exposure was still set for 1.5 stops of deliberate over-exposure. I quickly reset to 2/3rds of a stop underexposed and shot a few frames of the woodpecker only to discover that the camera did not register the adjustment. I noticed that the shutter speed was way down even at ISO 800 otherwise I would not have noticed the failure to re-adjust. I didn't have time to compensate before the woodpecker took off again. I had to make up for the over-exposure and slow shutter speed in PS. At least I managed one shot. This camera is just getting too old. But hell, so am I!
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-RV7JDLM/0/c8db1fba/L/Pileated%2Csoft%2COE%2Ccrop-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-RV7JDLM/A)
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Nice! pic
Been busy with the holidays, transporting the Mother Outlaw from Atikokan to Milton and then back.
Other things going on.
Nothing in Milton, A Coopers hawk blasting by the feeder a couple of times, Cardinals, Chickadee's and lots of Robin's last week.
dunno :)
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Gorgeous bird! I haven't seen or heard a Pileated for a couple of years. Cool photo! 8)
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That's a great capture!
I haven't seen one for decades. Looks like they favor the beach areas in Scarborough/Pickering.
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Thanks everyone, but I was just in the right place at the right time. Had I not just used my camera to better observe the treetop crow I would not have been primed to get a shot of the woodpecker. In other words, running into the house to grab my camera when the bird arrived would have been unproductive because it remained on site too briefly. It flew to the top of another tree but was then too far away for my lens. When it fully quit the scene it flew southward toward the Rouge Valley stopping once again on a treetop but this time located half way down the street within the same contiguous wooded lot. I even walked down the street where a trail enters the lot but no further because I was only wearing running shoes, not boots. By the time I walked half way back again I could hear the woodpecker call out again from the vicinity of the end point of my desperate excursion.
This morning, when I put out the refuse, it was still dark but I heard a Pileated call again. It was taunting me, or perhaps just telling me the truck was coming, which it was. If it wasn't for the wind and snowstorm I would keep a vigil.
I would accept a PWP as a FOY bird anytime, but in a way, the crow got my attention first. My FOY woodpecker was actually a Downy, while my SOY was a Hairy, so really the PWP was my TOY, and what a lovely TOY it was, batteries not included.
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Lovely photo. We saw a pileated on my father-in-law's back porch a couple of weeks ago in Edmonton. I took some crappy shots that are not even close this quality.
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Do they stay in GTA all year round? Wish I can see one.
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That's a great capture!
I haven't seen one for decades. Looks like they favor the beach areas in Scarborough/Pickering.
Last time I heard then saw one was May 2022 at Riverwood Conservancy by the Chappell House. Years ago used to see them at Erindale Park, Riverwood and also Rattray Marsh (by Lake Ontario) all here in Mississauga..
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A Pileated woodpecker will inhabit any wooded landscape that features skeletal trees (dead wood) even in winter. If I see one at all it will usually be in very early spring or late fall. Out here in the east (Scarborough and Pickering) there is no dearth of ravine habitat (water courses) and poorly managed woods where dead trees abound. I've seen Pileated in the Rouge, Highland Creek, Duffins Creek, the Guildwood Inn grounds, and the Amos pond area. I've seen them in the street-side wood lot at least half a dozen times during the last few years. I suggest that you don't actually plan to see one. You will see one when you don't expect to see one. I hope that I'll see another in March, or April. If I do find another it will likely be found way up out of telephoto reach, although the last missed chance (spring of 23) it was tearing apart a rotting log on the ground only about 15 meters away from me. I was sans camera at the time.
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Jo-Anne and SS, thanks for the info.
The only one I saw was in Guildwood Inn indeed.
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The last one I saw in Toronto was from my car on Bayview, just south of Sunnybrook Hospital. There is a ravine there and it was on one of the trees.
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Late in posting, but I saw a PWP on my walk the day this was posted. Live in a wooded area, so will hear or see them frequently.
Remember hearing a comment from someone, to see a PWP at Pelee or Rondeau, not common. Well, last year at Rondeau, for about 5 days straight, saw one or two every day. Right place, right time!!!
They are a gorgeous bird to hear and see anytime!!!
Hope everyone see more this year!!!!
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The last one I saw in Toronto was from my car on Bayview, just south of Sunnybrook Hospital. There is a ravine there and it was on one of the trees.
I know the ravine. When was it?
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Right place, right time!!!
They are a gorgeous bird to hear and see anytime!!!
Hope everyone see more this year!!!!
SO true and Yes, hope so too. Happy Birding everyone! :)
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The last one I saw in Toronto was from my car on Bayview, just south of Sunnybrook Hospital. There is a ravine there and it was on one of the trees.
I know the ravine. When was it?
Several years ago, so I don't think it is a useful lead for finding one now.
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Heard a Pileated calling today ... found some feed holes.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-TtHkSRT/0/dc9d3ba5/L/Feed%20holes%2C3-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-TtHkSRT/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-NvxL5t2/0/93224989/L/Pileated%20feed%20holes-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontarioorg/i-NvxL5t2/A)
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How high are these holes?
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The trunk with the elongated holes belongs to a tree that is located on a steep slope, therefore the base of the tree is below my actual position on the brink of the Rouge valley. The feeding holes are perhaps 2.5 - 3 meters above ground. The other tree is only half a meter below me and its feeding holes are maybe 2 - 2.5 meters above the ground.