Wonderful portrait of this beautiful woodpecker very sharp against the blurred background, ciao Giangiorgio

you and your sigma did really well capturing this shy bird- great series!

Many thanks!

Shy indeed! I thought it would fly as soon as it spotted me, but after some consideration, he/she decided I was no threat - minor miracle - and allowed me to observe/photograph it while feeding on this decaying cherry tree. After my initial approach I stayed put for the rest of the shoot. Cheers.

Hi Charles,

 

I have seen your beautiful series of this pileated woodpecker and like especially this one very much. You were lucky indeed to get so close. It's a good thing you shot it with your Sigma 150-600, which of course blurs out the background at this focal length; there seem to be a house in the background. I like how you used the treeand the background to frame the bird's head. The red on the head is just marvelous. P.S. I'm interested to hear how this lens handles. Kind regards, Vincent

Hi Vincent - Many thanks for your comments. I agree with you; very lucky. At times it seemed she(?) was actually posing for me. Couldn’t believe my luck, considering how many years I’ve photographed this species (or tried to!). There is a red brick house in the bg, along with a window frame blurred behind the bird. This is a residential area in DC. Maybe this bird has adapted to city life. But still, never got this close before in similar environments. About the lens: it’s pretty heavy, but balances well on my 80D with the vertical grip. I keep the tripod collar on which rests on my left palm which for me helps improve balance. I can still fine tune focus with thumb & index finger. The zoom ring takes more effort unfortunately. Also, because of the weight a proper chest/shoulder clip-on strap is worth considering though I haven’t really needed one. Hope that helps. Cheers.