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<\/p>\nLast\u00a0June I spent parts of several days photographing Red-naped Sapsuckers at their nest cavity\u00a0in the Uinta Mountains. These woodpeckers were fanatically devoted to their youngsters (that I never saw) and I was extremely impressed by how hard they worked at feeding them and keeping the\u00a0nest cavity clean.<\/p>\n
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1\/1250\/ f\/4, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM , not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n They were feeding ants to their offspring and made countless trips to the cavity with their bills loaded with them. The chicks must have been quite young because they never poked their heads out of the entrance. This is one of the few photos I got of either parent with its red\u00a0crown erected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200\/ f\/5, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM , not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Typically one adult would enter the cavity and stay with the chicks until the other parent showed up with food. Then the arriving parent would move its head to the side to allow the exit of the adult in the nest. Often the bird leaving would have a bill full of wood chips or chick fecal pellets and here we can see some small chips in the bill of the exiting parent. Sometimes their bills were loaded with gobs of wood chips.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200\/ f\/5, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM , not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n The exiting parent would literally explode out of the cavity and it was always difficult to photograph. To protect their eye as they passed by so closely to their mate they would typically close their eyelid (not their nictitating membrane) as this bird has done so I seldom got eye contact or a catch light during the process.<\/p>\n These woodpeckers would keep this exhausting\u00a0regimen going for hours at a time\u00a0with only brief breaks for rest and feeding themselves. I was curious to know if\u00a0the\u00a0typical feeding schedule of Red-naped Sapsuckers\u00a0has been studied and documented so I did a little research. Here’s what Cornell’s Birds of North America Online\u00a0has to say on the subject:<\/p>\n It makes me tired just to contemplate such a schedule.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n On a largely unrelated note may I be so bold as to suggest that my readers consider watching a new episode of American Experience on PBS\u00a0titled Rachel Carson<\/a>? I watched most of it last night and plan to finish it tonight. As most of you know Carson’s book Silent Spring is widely credited with helping to launch the environmental movement and her collective groundbreaking work revolutionized our relationship\u00a0with the natural world.\u00a0Her life story as documented by American Experience is a fascinating one.<\/em><\/p>\n Better watch it while you can before Trump gets his hands on federal funding for the Corporation\u00a0for Public Broadcasting. CPB\u00a0helps to fund organizations like PBS and NPR which are favorite targets among conservatives. Such a move has already been threatened.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was extremely impressed by how hard these woodpeckers worked at feeding their chicks and keeping their nest cavity clean.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/red-naped-sapsucker-5144-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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