More Acorn Woodpeckers: The first one (Sat 11/24) is of a male doing something besides perching or grabbing peanuts. He was getting a drink from the bird bath. I missed the mid air...

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The first one (Sat 11/24) is of a male doing something besides perching or grabbing peanuts. He was getting a drink from the bird bath. I missed the mid air water drops flying from his beak when he pulled his head back up and since I was using flash I had to do single shots - on burst I would have gotten some flying drops as he dipped and drank.
The second (Sun 11/25) is of a male and female on the old swing set getting ready to go snatch some peanuts. The focus seems to be on the females back so most of the male and part of the female are not in sharpest focus.

Both shots:
80D, Tamron 150-600 G2 @ 600, 1/250 @ f/8.0, ISO 400 at about 50 feet using a tripod and flash.

(Download)

Stoshik Loc: Los Angeles, CA

Curious: I thought I was pretty good identifying male from female birds. On photo #2 I would have said that both these birds are male. But after a bit of research it seems that the female's red cap touches black feathers in the front and the male red cap touches white feathers. You really know your woodpeckers!

Rec36 Loc: Grifton,NC

Nice

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Stoshik wrote:

Curious: I thought I was pretty good identifying male from female birds. On photo #2 I would have said that both these birds are male. But after a bit of research it seems that the female's red cap touches black feathers in the front and the male red cap touches white feathers. You really know your woodpeckers!

Not really. When the first one appeared in my yard in August I went to the Nat Geo bird book and then "All About Birds" (Cornell University Lab of Ornithology site) and read up on them. Decades of practice researching and writing lesson plans for use in the classroom.
Dumb luck that Acorns have such a positive difference between the genders.

Aside from Acorns the woodpecker I know best is Woody.

broncomaniac Loc: Lynchburg, VA

robertjerl wrote:

...
Aside from Acorns the woodpecker I know best is Woody.

Hah!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

broncomaniac wrote:

Hah!

Being a kid in the 50s and 60s in a small town where the 4, yes 4 TV stations in range of your antenna on a phone pole in the yard (ABC, CBS, NBC and one independent) ran hours of old movies and cartoons all weekend.

Katydid Loc: Davis, CA

Great pictures of what I always think of as the 'clowns of the bird world' with their silly noises!

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

robertjerl wrote:

The first one (Sat 11/24) is of a male doing somet... (show quote)

Nice shots Jerry.

CLF Loc: Raleigh, NC

robertjerl wrote:

The first one (Sat 11/24) is of a male doing somet... (show quote)

Jerry, I see what you mean about the focus but both photos are good captures showing off a pair of Woodpeckers that I did not know about until your first post showing them off. Thank you.

On an aside, I have been using my Tamron 150-600mm G2 and it really shines on my 6D. I have been thinking about getting the Tamron 1.4 TC G2 that mates with this lens. The reach of 1344mm on the 80D should take some awesome photos. What are your two cents about investing in this TC?

Greg

merrytexan Loc: georgia

robertjerl wrote:

The first one (Sat 11/24) is of a male doing somet... (show quote)

interesting how they drink...nice shots of very pretty woodpeckers.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Great set, you were lucky we only got one channel NBC.

broncomaniac Loc: Lynchburg, VA

robertjerl wrote:

Being a kid in the 50s and 60s in a small town where the 4, yes 4 TV stations in range of your antenna on a phone pole in the yard (ABC, CBS, NBC and one independent) ran hours of old movies and cartoons all weekend.

We had UHF and VHF to choose from, maybe 5 channels tops. PBS was a favorite.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Katydid wrote:

Great pictures of what I always think of as the 'clowns of the bird world' with their silly noises!

Thank you very much.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

J-SPEIGHT wrote:

Nice shots Jerry.

Thanks

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

CLF wrote:

Jerry, I see what you mean about the focus but bot... (show quote)

Thanks. Acorn Woodpeckers are west coast, SW and Mexico to Central America birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Acorn_Woodpecker/maps-range

I used my G1 with my 6D and a 7DII. Then I traded both cameras, the G1 and a 100-400 mk I for my 5DIV, 80D, 100-400 mk II and now the G2. I have tried the G2 with a Kenko Pro 300 1.4x and it works on my 5DIV but my 80D says no communication with lens. On the 5DIV of course no AF because of the f-stop. The Tamron extender may work or ??? Reach like that with manual focus should do well for stationary or semi-stationary subjects like perching birds.
Now the new Canon EOS R has f/11 AF!!!!!!!! If that AF system comes out on something like a 7DIII or a mirrorless replacement I may consider getting that body just for the f/11 AF.