Female Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)
We saw our second bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in two days today, but it was much further away and I really like this shot of a female downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens), in any case. We were at the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve in Alexandria, Virginia, which is a nice little park on the Potomac River, just outside the Capitol Beltway. When I photograph birds, even with my rather hefty 150-600mm lens, I still have to crop them to make the bird larger in the final image. This bird let me get so close that this is the full frame, which contributes to it being so sharp. What a pretty little thing.