The Elusive Woody

While at my parents house this past Saturday, a pileated woodpecker flew by. I grabbed my camera and took off in chase. I never really got close, I'm afraid. The shots above and below on a scenic telephone pole were probably taken from over 100 feet away. Every time I got to a reasonable shooting distance, he'd squawk and take off in his erratic flight.


Second closest I got was here, where he was deep in the shadow beneath a large oak tree. I had to do a lot of processing to this shot to make it half presentable, so take it for what it's worth. This fellow is nearly a foot long, in case you've never seen one in the wild. They make a very distinctive noise, too, so you usually hear them well before you see them, if you see them at all.