Lucky Shots

Shelley and I were out for a hike today working off the Christmas goodies and we heard a loud hammering. It was a Pileated Woodpecker. I was excited to see it because I've only seen them once or twice before. They're the largest woodpecker in North America. (assuming the Ivory-billed is actually extinct) Unfortunately it was high up in the tree and  I didn't have my telephoto lens. And it was quite dark in the forest under heavy clouds. I took a bunch of photos but wasn't too hopeful at 1/20 of a second at ISO 1600 with a not very sharp lens. It didn't help that it was busy hammering on the tree and I had to try to time my shots when it paused for a split second between blows. As it turned out, one shot out of 23 was half decent and cleaned up reasonable well.

My other lucky shot this week was a hummingbird that landed on the bush outside my window. It sat still long enough for me to get my camera, change lenses, put the lens through the blinds, and take two shots. Then it flew away. One shot was blurry and its eyes were closed. The other shot (this one) wasn't bad, considering the rush. I'm not sure why it had its tongue out.