Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
Cathy has started working with the county parks archaeology group this spring and they meet at the Needwood Mansion on Wednesdays. Today I met her there after they were done and we took a walk on the western side of Lake Needwood. We saw this pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) briefly and I was able to get one shot before it flew away. Later we saw quite a few double-crested cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) diving and catching fish, but the photos I took of them didn’t really turn out well. It’s tricky because when the go under, there’s really no telling where they will come up. If I’m looking through the long lens, I’m liable to miss them but if I’m not, it takes me a little while to find them and focus and by that time, they’ve generally swallowed the fish. Disclaimer: This image was a little blurry but I had Google Gemini sharpen it up for me.