Berry Eating Pileated

[Dave_Douglass]

I was observing, and shooting a female pileated woodpecker in our backyard today and I got to see it go over and graze on some manzanita berries which I’ve never seen before! It kept getting harassed by a scrub jay (barely visible in the lower RH corner). I had a good time watching, and shooting the event. Not sure the pileated had that good of a time. Pesky jays…

Specific Feedback Requested

Cropping? Environment too busy?

Technical Details

D500, Nikon 200-500 lens, hand held, 1/1600th, f 8.0, 450mm, ISO 4000, AI Clear, cropped to 3560 x 2867

[Diane_Miller]

Nice shot – not too busy for me. A couple of months ago I was shooting our Bluebirds bringing food to babies and the insect offerings were mixed with Manzanita berries. I hadn’t seen that before.

[terryb (Terry Brunholtz)]

Nice catch of this interesting behavior, Dave. Good details, especially considering all the cover you had to shoot into. Your scrub jays must be as mean and ornery as our Bluejays!