Red-Headed Woodpecker
Route 202, Lake Wallace, Belchertown
Photograph and text by Anne E. Ely, South Hadley
There has been a lot of interest lately in the red-headed woodpecker that has been at Lake Wallace, off of Route 202 in Belchertown. I saw one for the first time last month. It was interesting to watch it fly to an oak tree, grab an acorn, fly back and pound it into a crevice in a tree. The next step seemed to be pecking away at the acorn to pull out the nutmeat and then fly to one of several storage holes and deposit it. It continuously flitted from tree to tree making focusing on it a bit difficult.
I managed to capture this image with my tripod mounted DSLR camera and a medium length telephoto lens — and a lot of patience.
Anne E. Ely is affiliated with the Robert Floyd Photo Gallery, 2 East St., Southampton. Other images are on view there Tuesdays and Sundays, 1 to 6 p.m.; Wednesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. and by appointment.