White-headed Woodpecker, Sisters, Oregon on 27 May 2009 by Greg Gillson.This is one of the primary target species for birders visiting the Woodpecker Wonderland bird festival that was held in early June at Camp Sherman, Oregon, in the central Oregon Cascades. And a spectacular bird this is! It is one of my favorites, but hard to photograph correctly, as the black-and-white plumage plays havoc with camera exposure settings. Thus, this shot in the shade worked just right. And the low light angle of this late afternoon shot really brings out the details in this decorative bird bath. Of course, I really wasn't thinking about the artistic merit when I was taking the shot out of my car window in the motel parking lot. Don't tell anybody!
Click this link for all my posts on the Woodpecker Wonderland festival.
Please read Dave Irons' post on this Festival on the BirdFellow blog.
To see a White-headed Woodpecker you must visit old-growth ponderosa pine forests in the West, primarily from southern British Columbia and northern Idaho south through the Cascades and Sierra Nevada mountains to southern California.