Question for birders

[GenoP754]

Hello and thanks for viewing this.....

I recently took some photos for a story on the president of the NJ Chapter of The Audubon Society. In the group of photos I sent in some pictures I culled out, however this photo of a Male Downy Woodpecker was used. They have a whole area dedicated to back yard birding at their store and I can understand why they chose this from that angle, but what I really want to know is this a rare or difficult bird to photograph?

They even go into detail and describe the red spot ont the birds head.

Thanks,
GenoP

Nikon D2x ,Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR ,TC-1.7E II
1/100s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso200

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[hillrg]

Nice shot. Not too rare, but it can be difficult to get them in the right lighting and background in the wild.

 

[GenoP754]

Nice shot. Not too rare, but it can be difficult to get them in the right lighting and background in the wild.

Thanks Rory.

I was just surpirised they picked him over some of the other birds I shot.

Geno

 

[linm]

Maybe not so rare!

I'm not much of a bird shooter. In fact, this is my only backyard Bird on my PBase site so my guess is -- it's not all that rare!

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[GenoP754]

Re: Maybe not so rare!

I'm not much of a bird shooter. In fact, this is my only backyard Bird on my PBase site so my guess is -- it's not all that rare!

Nice photo though!

GenoP

 

[linm]

Thanks, I was pleased with it. My only complaint was that I hadn't gotten much around the eyes. Yours is much better for that!

 

[jczinn]

It really depends on the audience the article was for. This is a recognizable "backyard bird" and so appeals to a lot of beginning birders or even those who aren't really birders at all, but just enjoy nature. Its quite a common bird and actually one of the easiest to photograph, because it does come to feeders, and it also tends to stay fairly still while pecking (unlike, say, a warbler!) So, I'm not surprised they chose a shot of this bird.

and congratulations on your photo in the article!