May see these at Sax-Zim (images)

[mcary]

I was out hiking through Canosia WMA just north of Duluth today. The lighting was garbage - just like it's supposed to be for our Sunday excursion. The bright side is that I was able to get some nice images of a couple of different black-backed woodpeckers and it served as a reminder that good images can be captured in less than ideal conditions. As a side note, I want to thank DBL for the tip on metering your hand to set manual exposure levels - it worked pretty slick!

[Steve Foss]

Excellent job, Micheal. They are not as easy to get close to as downy wps, and that last one is an especially cool behavior shot. Gotta love that 6.5 fps max burst rate on the 40D!

[MN Shutterbug]

Cool shots, Mike. I've never seen a woodpecker with gold on it's noggin. I hope you told him to stick around for a few days.

On another note Mike, have you been to Squaw Creek NWR yet? I remember you saying that you were headed down there at the end of this month. I did see that 3 weeks ago there were around 475,000 snow geese at the refuge and a little over a week ago, there were only 5 left. Also, the refuge was 97% frozen. They didn't do a count this week, for some reason.

I just reread your post and see now that the bird wasn't at the bog. Mike, give him a map and tell him to be at the bog for brunch.

[mcary]

Steve,

The burst on the 40D is VERY handy. When your shooting with SS around 1/100s and you have a hyperactive woodpecker, it's nice to be able to just hold the shutter button and know that you'll catch the split second when he pauses.

X,

I ended up bailing on that trip. My window of opportunity was narrowed and I had to spend an unfortunately sizeable amount of $$$ to fix my car. The trip was to visit my grandparents down in Missouri and I thought I would squeeze a stop at the refuge in on the way. I'm still hoping to make the trip, but probably not until next year. Now that I know when all the birds are there (I've been watching the counts too), I'll time the trip to coincide.

See you both on Sunday.

[jonny_redhorse]

superb captures Mike!...I have yet to see one of these guys!....maybe I live on the back side of the moon up here....no cardnals,no black-backed wood peckers....I'd love to see one! (they say the black-backed are in the "bog"....all 234 square miles of it!)....I hear you on the week-end snowy/gray conditions...I just hope the county(or whom ever) plows the south Admiral Road....that's one of the main destinations for Sunday ....the road running parrallel is the MCdavitt which should be plowed....not necessarily the south admiral though, it's more desolate...I've had enough snow! ....guess we'll just have to wait and see what the snows will bring that day...good company and good hot coffee either way........

[Steve Foss]

Jonny, black-backed woodpeckers and their cousins, the American three-toed woodpeckers, used to be pretty uncommon, and sightings were real events.

Not so any longer. Last year in particular brought lots of sightings, all the way down to Hwy. 2 in northeastern and northcentral MN.

Both species are boreal species that specialize by peeling bark in mature spruce/balsam fir/pine forests to find grubs and bugs. You just don't find them in aspens like you do all the other winter woodpeckers.

There are some good environments for them in the Bog, which as you know offers some pretty long stretches of spruce/fir/tamarack.

If you see a woodpecker about the same size as a hairy in winter in the conifers, but one that looks quite a bit darker than the hairy/downy crowd, it'll most likely be a black-backed or three-toed.

[mcary]

Quote:

---

I just hope the county(or whom ever) plows the south Admiral Road

---

Plowed or not, I've got snowshoes and I'm not afraid to use 'em. Although, a warm vehicle and a few guys with binoculars works nicely too. I picked up some new nikon binocs for this weekend - hopefully they will have their fill of rare birds and predatory mammals (hopefully my 100-400 does too).

[jonny_redhorse]

just may see one Steve....when I think about it, I have seen some darker woodpeckers when I've been down in the bog but never really paid that much attention because they were to far off....

[jonny_redhorse]

I'm bringin my "Alaskans" too, got em for christmas last year but wasn't much snow....and a snow shovel!!........not a good place to be stuck in, lol!...I'm bringing a pair of "binos" also,, older pair of 7x35 Bushnells....

[Dbl]

Michael really a great series of shots here. I feel your pain on the lighting, I just shot for 5 days with not one ray of sunshine, cloudy, foggy, snow, low light. I'm glad the metering your hand worked well for you. My camera never came off of manual all 5 days and the only thing I metered was my hand. I only had a couple of shots to bump exposure on. I works like a champ with these constant lighting (grey) situations in snow. Great work again.

[MN Shutterbug]

Quote:

---

I'm bringin my "Alaskans" too, got em for christmas last year but wasn't much snow....and a snow shovel!!........not a good place to be stuck in, lol!...I'm bringing a pair of "binos" also,, older pair of 7x35 Bushnells....

---

Never thought about a snow shovel - not a bad idea, especially considering my 4 wheel has got temperamental and works only when it wants to. What the heck is a bino? Whatever it is, I'm sure I don't have any.

What the heck. I don't need a shovel with 4 strong men to push.

[Steve Foss]

XT, a bino is simply a pair of binoculars. Alaskans are a style of snowshoe. We're Americans, so we're addicted to shortening words. I'll have my binocs and snowshoes along, but probably won't take either out of the vehicle. Binocs are nice and so are snowshoes, but you likely won't need either. This is a get-together, not an Arctic expedition.

It's beginning to look like we'll be so busy consolidating gear into a few vehicles that we won't even have time for breakfast!

[mcary]

Ah but Steve - we wouldn't be good americans if we didn't have way too much dump along for our own good and a vehicle big enough to haul it all. Honestly, if it won't fit in my backpack (aside from the snowshoes), it's not coming with me.

[Steve Foss]

Mike, that's me, too. My photo backpack carries EVERY bit of photo gear I own, and if I don't need the snowshoes they lash onto the back of the pack.

[MN Shutterbug]

Boy, do I feel dumb. I thought that maybe "binos" was something else you northerners wore to keep warm or get thru the snow. I guess I do have binos. Alas, no Alaskans. No need for them down here, with only about 4" of snow on the ground.

[jonny_redhorse]

I swear this is turning into the "Shackleton Expedition" lol!!! ....

[Steve Foss]

Dude!

No one will die on this outing. Well, unless the food at the Rocket leads to bad things.

[jonny_redhorse]

my "back pack" is the pickup box with the tonneau cover .....everything I'LL need for an 8 hour outing........everything else will be next to me on the front seat of the pick-up....don't plan on doing any hiking here ....actually those snowshoes will never be put on ...maybe put em on for a photo session and pretend were near Yellow Knife near Great Slave Lake with the "tundra" aka "Sax-Zim Bog " in the back ground...lol!.......

[MN Shutterbug]

Quote:

---

Dude!

No one will die on this outing. Well, unless the food at the Rocket leads to bad things.

---

Actually, no one died during the Shackleton Expedition either. I don't think we'll have it that rough. (I had to check the Wikipedia encyclopedia to find out what you guys were talking about.)

[finnbay]

Steve, am I going to have to put the trailer on again? Between you and me we might need to! Great shots of a black-billed. I've never seen one as far as I know. Would be a great find this weekend. Would also like to get a chance to shoot a boreal chickadee. Went all the way to Hudson Bay with a fella that wanted to see one - with no luck! Seeing one in the Bog would be a treat. By the way, my kids were home for Christmas and I told them we were going to the Zim Bog for a photo safari and they asked if I meant "Zim-Bog-Way"? (Zimbabwe)

[Steve Foss]

Ken, if we can't fit our gear into your Blazer, we'd best sit back home with a few beverages and forget about a road trip!

And if your kids think a Sax-Zim-Bog shoot is like a Zimbabwe shoot, the apple apparently hasn't fallen far from the Finn tree. Just kidding, you stubborn Finnlander!

[finnbay]

Lion and tigers and bears, oh my!

[jonny_redhorse]

chuckle on that one...lol! .....heading to the bog in about 2 hours.....see what we have going on down there...maybe my manfrattos will arrive today,sure could use that window mount!.........weatherwise,I see they're talkin more snow this afternoon in this area and more starting sunday ....betcha the deer will be yarding up this year...

[buzzsaw]

Nice shot, Mike!

[yakfisher]

I think Jonny needs the binos so that he can see what he might be shooting with that 80mm artillery piece he'll be hanging out the window. So, how bad is the recoil with the new cannon?