Another Woodpecker in flight.

I continued my quest to photograph the Crossbills this morning and I will be returning later today for another session, I feel that early evening is going to be more likely.  This morning though, I came really close to success, a large group of the finches were in the tree right above my head and obviously, therefore, also very close to the pool.  I was sure that they were going to come down to drink, I could hear them very noisily calling. Then suddenly, it was quiet and they had moved on again, did they see me, were they disturbed?  I feel sure that it's just a matter of time before they come down predictably to drink.  I am looking forward to this happening not only for me but I also want the opportunity to take along a few bird watching friends.  Crossbills are not that easy to see so it will be a treat for us all.  In the meantime, the Woodpeckers put on a nice show again and I managed to get one of my best in flight shots.  This was the juvenile that seems to be in residence here along with an adult male.   For a photographers perspective, you might find this interesting.  I have come to the conclusion that a minimum of 1/4000 of a second is a must to freeze the wing beat.  To achieve this I set the camera to shutter priority and not the usual aperture priority.  In this way, the camera will constantly change the aperture as the intensity of the light fluctuates. Sometimes the f-stop will be 6.5 and in very bright sunlight might even be 9.5  The shutter speed is the obvious priority and the depth of field comes second.  I choose an ISO that will make it possible to achieve the 1/4000 shutter speed and if the light is really good the depth of field will vary but the "constant" will always the shutter speed that I require.  Here's today's shot.