Monday 4 February 2013

Not a Horse Shoe - Visiting Woodpecker

gold star
The first Guess What of the year managed to fool a few people. It certainly looked somewhat like a horse shoe in the snow but as ImaBurdie and Wilma worked out it was an impression from the ice spikes on my shoe so they get the first virtual Gold Stars of 2013. Many thanks to all who had a go.

2013-01-24 15.08.15c.jpg   P1040367c.jpg


No new Guess What for this Monday but I will try to find something for next week.

A pleasant surprise this morning when I spotted a male Great Spotted Woodpecker on the peanut feeder nearest the kitchen window. Lighting was poor and I had to up the ISO to 3200 on the 50D to get even a reasonable shutter speed.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Unfortunately it didn't stay long enough to get any video this time.

15 comments:

  1. I was rather looking forward to finding out a horse had been in your garden ;-)

    Those shots of the GSW are lovely John. I can't believe you got such good results in poor conditions!

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    1. Jan: When I first moved here there were horses which used to come up to my back fence to be petted and fed. Now there is just housing.
      The photos came out better than I expected, especially hand held at full zoom. The IS was working hard!

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  2. Hi John,

    I think think you definitely fooled most of us with that horse-shoe lookalike print. Nice shots of the woodpecker despite the high ISO, always a nice visitor to see

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    Replies
    1. Joe: I see I got too many zeros in my post - should have said 3200 ISO, now corrected - it was still less grainy than I expected.

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    2. Ahh yes I noticed. Did for a moment think you had some kind of super-camera that could reach 32k ISO!

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  3. ice spikes - not something i get to see in texas. :)

    love the woodpecker!

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  4. Always a sight to gladden the heart.

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    Replies
    1. True Adrian. I wish I could spot them more often.

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  5. really good shots of the GS Woodpecker John under the circumstances. Some photographers like a bit of noise on the image as it looks more "organic".

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  6. Ha! Horseplay ~ I thought of your shoe grips, and then second guessed a horseshoe! Good one! Wonderful photos of the handsome woodpecker.

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  7. Yea - a gold star to start my year off right! Love the woodpecker!

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  8. whoohoo! a perfect start for 2013.

    (High 5 Wilma!)

    Can't wait for the next Guess What John.




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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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