I did that "thing" that all photographers dread. I erased the wrong memory card. And, of course, it wasn't a card full of test shots or the family cat yawning or a series of vignettes of the new Tiger Lilly blooms. It was great close-up shots of a "dad" bird feeding a "kid" bird.
I thought I had finally nailed the exposure, had the best light and a great perspective. These images no longer exist, but a funny thing happened because I lost those minutes of "film."
A few hours later, I could hear the downy woodpecker family in full-on hungry mode, so I took up my position outside, loaded the bread/peanut butter/nuts concoction into the holes in the piece of driftwood that serve as a perch and a feeder, and waited.
What I got to see was the moment that a downy woodpecker youngster discovers for herself that food is separate from their parents. She landed on the vertical branch, took a look around and then (as if she had been doing this her entire life) began to peck at the mixture and eat on her own.
Wondering how I can get so close to my bird subjects using only a 70-300 mm zoom lens? That's my next article, so bookmark this and come back!
Fantastic!!