In spring, the forest comes alive and with it a multitude of young birds are born. One of the most fascinating sights is that of a young Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) hungry and impatiently pulling on its mother’s feathers to encourage her to feed. This behavior offers us a unique insight into the life and survival strategies of these remarkable birds. After hatching, the young Great Spotted Woodpeckers are completely dependent on their parents for care. They are blind, naked and incredibly hungry. The constant feeding of the young birds is an enormous challenge for the parents, who must search tirelessly for food to meet the needs of their hungry offspring.
One particularly interesting behavior that can be observed in the young Great Spotted Woodpeckers is pullingon the mother’s feathers. When the mother returns to the nest to bring food, the young birds are often so hungry and impatient that they pull on her feathers to get her attention and speed up the feeding. This behavior shows not only the urgency of their hunger, but also the bond and communication channels within a Great Spotted Woodpecker family.
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is widespread in Europe and a common inhabitant of our forests. With its contrasting black and white plumage and the bright red spots on its head and underbelly, it is easy to recognize. During the breeding season, which begins in spring, great spotted woodpeckers lay their eggs in self-made holes in tree trunks or branches. The female usually lays 4-7 eggs, which are incubated by both parents in turn.
Both parents play a crucial role in raising the young. While the male Great Spotted Woodpecker is often responsible for most of the nest building work, both share the tasks of brood care and food procurement. This partnership-based division of duties is essential for the survival of the young birds. A constant supply of insects and other food is vital, particularly in the first few weeks after hatching, when the nestlings are at their most vulnerable.
Once again I used the Canon EOS 1DX Mark III in a remote control. I used the higher bandwidth of the WFT-E9 to enable almost delay-free photography from the laptop. The range with the additional device is impressive at 150m. After the camera and laptop had got to know each other via EOS Utility on the one hand and the tab in the camera control called “communication function”, I did not want to disturb the feeding parents any further and devoted myself to photography while sitting in the car about 15 meters away. Now I had to keep an eye on the surroundings and wait for the great spotted woodpecker parents to fly over, then look at the laptop and, if there was something going on, trigger the shutter remotely. The camera, the Canon EOS 1DX Mark III, behind a Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM was about 6 meters away from the tree hollow.
The delay in displaying what is happening on the screen or setting the autofocus point does not take long. I worked with single field AF the whole time. It is very nice that you can also adjust “manually” remotely. There are even 3 different modes for this, from very fine to rather coarse focus settings. To do this, however, you should switch to 5x magnification to get the last bit of sharpness out of your subject. This is basically impossible with moving subjects, but here the nest entrance was a reliable reference point.
The Canon EOS 1DX III manages 20 frames per second in live image with the electronic shutter. That is absolutely impressive. This is where the new CFExpress memory cards come into their own. In the first attempts, I was able to shoot endlessly in RAW format at 20 frames/s; the buffer is freed up again very quickly.
In order to meet the growing demand for top images of the rarer species of Palaearctic Bird-lens.com has specifically made trips to remote places. Additionally every chance is used, if a rare bird is around the homeground. This to do everything to ensure excellent photos of the Birds of the Western Palearctic . The yield of pictures also of rare Western Palaearctic birds is very good. There are other nice images of birds, that you will find behind the tab “Picture Shop“. Just give a notice if you need a picture of a bird which is not online