At 6:55, when I leave for work, they are usually on one of the utility poles across the street, where they hide just out of the light, and my desire for a photo clashes with my desire for a photo in a somewhat more natural setting.
Most mornings, between 7 and 8, one shows up on the roof of one of the buildings at work. A metal roof. I can hear it tapping from inside the office. I have photographed it on the roof, sitting on steel and silhouetted against blue sky. Not the best photo in the world. Nor the best habitat for a management indicator species. I thought this was an aspen species. Hmmm.
Last summer, it showed up on the juniper outside the window above the sink at work. I don't even recall taking a photo of it, but there it is, slightly blurry, bad light...
The other day it showed up on the juniper, where it stayed until I made it back to the office, got the camera, and came back to the window, at which point it flew across the creek into the park. I managed a few less-than-wonderful shots across the creek, then realized that if I could just get a bit east of it, I would have a perfect side shot with the sun behind me. So I raced around to the park, and began to sneak up on it past the people walking their dogs. I never even got close.
This morning, heavy snow, horrible light, a few juncos shivering on the ground under the junipers. About ten a.m. I walked past the sink and glanced out the window to see the sapsucker casually drilling on the juniper right outside the window. Once again, I jogged to the office, grabbed the camera, and came back...
and it was still there. It stayed there while I pried open the window, set up the tripod, and took a series of photos.
It stayed there while I downloaded the camera, looked at the shots, and decided I could do better.
It stayed there while I eased open the back door, carried the tripod and camera outside, and set up for some shots.
It stayed there when I eased a bit closer and around to one side to get the sun behind me.
And it stayed there after I had frozen and given up and gone inside.
The photos still are not perfect. They never are. Better light, better poses, no branches in the way, darker background...a better-trained wild bird that will let you get within ten feet some days?
Whine, whine.
Dennis Garrison
Paonia
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