RUSTIC

This Red-bellied Woodpecker calls out from across the meadow. I hear it over my left shoulder – her standard starting point. It’s a signal that she’s on her way over to the feeder. Next, out of the corner of my eye, I often catch the scalloped flight she makes across the opening before landing at the top of a tree, fifty-or-so feet away to my left. Like a Diva, she perches for a few minutes with the brilliant blue sky as her backdrop. As she slowly observes her world in nearly every direction, she presents her profiles, allowing the light to catch a glint in her eyes…. and sometimes, not.

Just as I am feeling that I’ve taken ample shots of the lovely creature, she swoops into a closer location, usually in the tree top to my right. Her proximity to me, and the overhang of the golf cart’s roof typically makes its more challenging than it’s worth to try and get a decent shot. It would be a bad angle, anyway. Few models want their chin (or beak) over accentuated. So, rather than try to bend down-and-up to focus my lens towards her, I prepare for her arrival on the feeder. After all, that is her ultimate destination.

But today, she rather chose to drop down from the tree to a fence post directly across from me. In late afternoon sun, I was able to get what I feel is a very rustic image that captures the antiquity of our farm and the beauty of this bird.