LittleRed

This young lady we called Missy. As you can see she's quite the beauty. She was a juvenile female Pileated Woodpecker born in May of 2019 and after getting kicked out by her parents spent the summer mooching of us. A regular daily visitor that had a tendency to help herself to the suet if we were not quick enough to get it into her "log'. While I was filling up her feeder she would sit on our table and munch away out of the suet container. These pics document one such visit in late July. I was lucky to get these shots as normally I don't have a camera when making a quick refill of the feeders. But luckily I had one of my real old DSLR's on the table that I was getting ready to repurpose and wanted to check it out. A young lady down the street whom regularly visits to watch my feathered friends seemed interested in photography so I offered her one of my old camera's that were sitting in our library. I was an old Canon XTi (10 meg) that was just collecting dust. She gladly accepted it and late last fall she stopped by to show some of her pics. Happy to say that she's done real well with some excellent pics, even some very good BIF's. I'm happy to see that old camera has brought joy to somebody else rather than just sitting on a shelf.
I realize that these pics are quite old but I finally got the time to process some of my pics from last year. The result of taking too many pics and just archiving them for another day. I still have at least a couple thousand that I still have to play with.

LittleRed (Ron)

Portrait of a Pretty Young Lady


Where's da Food, I can smell it!!


Aha, it tis up on the table


Guess What I Found and it's all MINE!!!


Mighty fine stuff but could use a bit more peanut butter


Thanks Oldtimer for the snack, will see you tomorrow, same time

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The EOS XTi was one of the last older models before the great Mega Pixel Wars started. Many think the camera achieved the best balance of pixel size / density to the cropped-sensor format, at least as compared to the later 12MP thru 18MP interactions. These excellent Woodpecker examples certainly support that argument for a camera that dates back to 2006. Thank you for sharing!

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

Very nice.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Delightful story and photos! I have yet to see one of these beauties in real life

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Those are great, Ron.

Mike

bluezzzzz Loc: Stamping Ground, KY

Wonderful photos!

We had a Pileated fly into our patio door one year and stun itself. Came to after about 15 minutes and flew off. Came back a few times after that but never became a regular visitor.

We keep woodpecker blocks and suet out in hopes that another one will come one of these days.

Marshall

WAstinkbug Loc: Silverdale, WA, U.S.A.

There is certainly nothing wrong with those pictures! I love birds and we have these in the woods next to our property. I hear them more often than they are seen though. (And sometimes see the impact they make in short order with those beaks.) They are usually shy. What a "gift" to have such close association with one. Thank you for sharing your photos and story... and bless you for being generous with an old, beloved camera. <3

RowdyRay Loc: MN

The XTi is what started my digital journey. Or should I say, obsession. Lol. Great image maker and camera to start with. Fond memories. Sold mine to fund the next, but have since found two more for cheap. Both, donated to others, and still being used.

Love the story and pics.

LittleRed

Thanks for stopping in CHG_CANON. Yes, sometimes bigger is not necessarily better. I am sometimes hard pressed to get as good a picture with my 24MP camera than I could with this old 10 one. One on one the old camera was sometimes just as good if not better but it was missing a lot of the extras that I now have.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Thanks Jeff for the nice comment, tis appreciated.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Thanks for the comment on my posting. I always appreciate your comments. One of the reasons I'm still on this blog is because of you and some of your comrades such as Mark (the Jazz man) whom make it very interesting. Always look forward to hearing/seeing your wisdom regarding all aspects of photography. Keep up the excellent work. Again thanks for stopping in and commenting.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Thanks Mike for the kind comment.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Thanks Marshall for your kind comment. Your lucky you still have a patio window as these birds are really a-moving when at full speed. But keep trying sooner or later one will find your stash. I find that a homemade mixture of peanut butter (1 part), lard (1 part) flour (1 part) and corn meal (3 parts) is an excellent draw for these big birds. I know my characters will totally ignore the commercial blocks to get to my homemade stuff.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Thanks WAstinkbug for looking in and the kind comments. Over the past years I too have found that the adults are quite nervous (shy?) when feeding but usually the juveys are a bit more friendly. Haven't learned to be afraid of those big featherless creatures yet.

LittleRed (Ron)

Bill_de Loc: US

Nice pictures and very nice gesture on your part!

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