Gary Luhm Wins the Eastside Audubon Photo of the Month Honor for April
Gary Luhm won the Eastside Audubon Photo of the Month honor in April for his photos of a Pileated Woodpecker. This marks his fourth time receiving this accolade.
Lens: 700 mm | Exposure: 1/250 sec | Aperture: f/5.6 | ISO: 800
“I found this Pileated Woodpecker nest under construction after hearing a dull thumping sound while walking a trail in an Eastside park,” he said.
“I found a male diligently working outside a fresh hole,” he adds. “Since I was wearing an iridescent bicycle jacket, I left and returned later wearing a ghillie suit, and then found the female at work. This meant probable commitment. Four days later I returned with tripod, my longest lens, teleconverter and a crop-frame camera that gave me 1050 mm magnification. I positioned behind a tree trunk adjacent a trail for a bit of cover that provided an excellent view. I like the way the vertical forest trees line up, and the angle of the hole; a bonus I didn’t expect, shafts of light shining through thick forest. And then the female flew in to relieve the male. Sometimes the stars align.”
“I photographed for 17 minutes, start to finish, alternately capturing stills and 4K 120p video, and then departed. Two of the three images here were extracted in Lightroom from video. At 120 frames per second, the chance of a peak action shot is far greater than from stills at 10 frames per second.”
Lens: 700 mm | Exposure: 1/400 sec | Aperture: f/8 | ISO: 1000
Gary offers the following advice for photographing woodpeckers. “If you want to find woodpecker nests, start scouting April 1 or earlier. Listen for bird calls, and especially for the sound of pounding on dead wood, he says.
“Check snags with binoculars for fresh holes that may indicate construction is underway, and look for wood chips below. If you find a new start, stay away. Males generally start construction, later joined by a female. If she’s working the nest hole too, they’ve likely committed, but still could abandon the site if disturbed. There are always birds that won’t tolerate any human nearby, even with a blind.”
But some woodpeckers near frequently traveled city paths can be tolerant of a quiet photographer with a long telephoto lens.
“Never post location,” he advises. “We’ve had a paparazzi problem in the past with local Pileated Woodpeckers. Be respectful of birds, especially around nests. Pileated Woodpeckers, high up in dead wood, can be tolerant birds; most woodpecker nest sites should be left alone.”
Gary is presenting “Composition in Bird Photography” on Saturday, May 18th, 2-3:15 pm at the 2024 Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest. Festival dates are May 16-19. Keynote speaker Saturday night is Rebecca Heisman, author of Flight Paths. You can find the Bird Fest schedule here: https://wenatcheeriverinstitute.org/bird-fest/schedule.html.
Photo Details
All photos were shot with a Sony A6700 camera and a Canon 500 mm lens using a 1.4x extender making the lens equivalent to 700 mm.
About the Eastside Audubon Photograph of the Month Award
The Photo of the Month award was instituted to recognize the work of the Photo Group Members. The group members meet monthly to show their latest photos and videos as well as share their knowledge of photography and wildlife. To attend the meetings, please join the group’s announcement list.