![\"red-naped](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/red-naped-sapsucker-5147-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYesterday morning I photographed a pair of Red-naped Sapsuckers as they attended to familial duties at their nest cavity in the Uinta Mountains. Shooting conditions were very\u00a0difficult due to\u00a0constantly changing light and the high contrast between the almost white aspen bark and the blacks of the birds but I did get some images I like.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/5, ISO 640,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n They spent much of their time hauling sap-dipped ants to their offspring and removing wood chips and fecal sacs from inside the cavity. Often when one parent arrived at the nest entrance the other one was already inside the cavity so that bird would have to leave before the arriving adult could enter.<\/p>\n That’s what’s happening here – the male (I believe) with a few wood chips in his bill is making his exit while the female waits at the entrance with a beak full of ants for the chicks. These exits are explosively fast so I was lucky…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/5, ISO 640,\u00a0<\/em>Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n to have not clipped any body parts in the next image in the burst. The female’s eye is half closed but I still\u00a0have a catch light in the eye\u00a0to partially make up for it.<\/p>\n This nest cavity was a lucky find. I won’t photograph nesting birds if my presence disrupts their normal behavior in any way but this nest tree is within a couple of feet of a busy paved road and these sapsuckers are oblivious to the fairly steady stream of traffic including large noisy trucks. They have become completely acclimated to all the human hubbub and they simply ignored the presence of my pickup (as per usual I was shooting from inside my truck and using a super-telephoto lens).<\/p>\n One of the reasons I enjoy photographing birds in challenging conditions like this is that I learn so much about the capabilities and limitations\u00a0of my gear and my own photography skills.<\/p>\n![\"red-naped](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/red-naped-sapsucker-5148-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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