On the dullest day of the year

[WifeKidsandDog]

while looking for wood ducks, I saw my first pileated woodpecker, he was right across the river from me.

It was so dull and dark I couldn't even get a reasonable shot at ISO 1600. Anyway, I got to sit and watch him for about five minutes. What a strange looking bird ... and loud.

Cheryl

[Steve Foss]

Cheryl, here's a tip. Buy a $10 Primos bulb mouse squeak call. Many birds come right in when you squeak it, as do some mammals. I'd tried many times to get close enough to pileateds to get good images with no success, but last winter when I was shooting near Gabbro lake and a pair swooped in, I got a couple usable images before they flew away. Then I remembered the squeaker and took it out and squeaked a few times. I had pileateds dive-bombing me like crazy. Had to comb them out of my hair. I spent 15 minutes getting full-frame images of them in all poses.

Works really great for nuthatches and other birds, too. I'd discovered how well birds come in to that call many years ago, when I used to call in fox and coyote in N.D. with a loud screaming rabbitt call. Once they come in fairly close, I'd get them in even closer with the mouse squeak. Gotta have great camo and discipline for that, though. But I called in stray cats, stray dogs, three species of owls and two species of hawks, among the fox and coyote. And the cool thing for a photographer is they come in totally alert with ears and eyes perked at attention and looking for that meal. Great subjects they are, then.

Pileateds and nuthatches and such don't care about the camo. They'll come right in on you, all agitated. I expect the call sounds to then like a young bird or an adult in distress. I don't like to do it for extended periods lest it stress the birds too much. Being alive on the planet is stress enough.

[WifeKidsandDog]

Quote:

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Then I remembered the squeaker and took it out and squeaked a few times. I had pileateds dive-bombing me like crazy. Had to comb them out of my hair. I spent 15 minutes getting full-frame images of them in all poses.

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Umm Steve, not to sound too much like a girl, but I don't think I like the idea of pileated woodpeckers or hawks dive bombing me. I get a bit nervous when I see a hawk in case it does something unpredictable, like fly AT me. LOL!

So I like the idea of the squeaker bringing the birds closer, but not too sure I want them getting too close --- Attack of the Killer Pileated and all that.

LOL

[Steve Foss]

Well, they only dive bombed me once, really. The rest was poetic license. I'm Irish, and a fisherman, so I have to exaggerate. After that, every time they seemed to get ready to leave I'd just squeak the all and they'd come back close.