Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: red crest

Three of us spent some time this afternoon photographing two amazing Pileated Woodpeckers in Fish Creek Park. It doesn't matter how many times I see one of these huge, almost prehistoric looking birds, I am still filled with awe. The two today kept flying from tree to tree and occasionally to a log. One of the biggest challenges is to try and get a photo with no twigs or blades of grass in the way!! They gave us a chance to shoot in different settings, which was really nice and much appreciated. For those of you who are not familiar with this Woodpecker, this is a female - the male has a red moustache, but not the female. Also, the female's red crest starts on the crown, whereas the male's crest begins at the forehead. In Alberta, the Pileated Woodpecker is uncommon to common year-round.

I haven't had the chance to photograph a Pileated Woodpecker in quite a while so, even though this isn't the most photogenic "perch", I'll still post it. This female was seen in the Bankside area of Fish Creek Park.

Another shot of the huge, female Pileated Woodpecker that we saw a few days ago in a local park. She and her mate flew from tree to log to tree to tree, giving us a few different locations for our images. Amazingly, we were able to get a few shots with no annoying branches in the way : ). It's never a good idea to stand below a tree with a Pileated Wioodpecker in it - they can make those huge chunks of tree bark FLY! This shot was taken in one of those exceedingly rare split seconds where the bird is actually still. The rest of the time they are hammering away, resulting in too many shots with a blurry head : )

I try not to upload two photos of the same thing too close together. However, I thought if I posted a male and a female Pileated Woodpecker, you could compare the two. This image shows the male of the pair we saw yesterday - sporting a red moustache and a red crest that starts just above the bill. They are such amazing birds - their size is quite breathtaking and the head crest is awesome when the sun shines through it. Simply glows : ). Not cropped at all, by the way, so we were VERY lucky.