Nubian Woodpecker - Campethera nubica
Sometimes birds come to you. Granted I had to travel to Tanzania and then 3 planes later end up next to the Mara River in the Serengetti National Park. I think we had finished a game drive, perhaps had finished lunch and were loafing in the library or front room tent - the family would write up journals, look at books and so on... and then onto a tree perhaps 5 yards away this fellow turns up.
I did get a bit excite but I managed to steady my nerves, fevered brain and camera shake and get the settings about right for a nice serious of shots as he went about his business oblivious to me crawling about no more than 3 or 4 yards away. The words of the Great Master Dillon from Bangalore started to pour into my head - take at head height - get down. Its does make for a better shot.
Then the acrobatics start. I think have got the book out by now and identified it as a Nubian Woodpecker - no mean feat as it is on a page with 6 distinctly similar "Woodland Woodpeckers". Every marking counts here - this is a male birds from the majority red crown.
Show over I returned to my library tent - Some of the best bird shots of my life and I had to walk 5 yards from where I had just finished a nice boozy lunch. Sets you up for an afternoon of big game !
The camp at Olikira - I walked from the left hand greener tent to the first tree to the left for these shots.
Nubian Woodpecker , Campathera nubica
Olakira Camp, Northern Serengetti, Tanzania
July 2012
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