Incredible luck (pileated woodpecker, black bears)

The photo gods were smiling upon me yesterday. I was planning to wake up at 2:30am (seriously) to drive up to Killarney Provincial Park for sunrise, but when my alarm clock went off I could not drag myself out of bed... so I slept in and left around 7:30am. My laziness paid off. While leisurely driving northwards, I stopped for a break en route and stumbled across a Pileated Woodpecker nest right in the parking lot at the rest stop! I've been wanting to shoot a natural Pileated nest with chicks for a decade (have shot them in hydro polls before). This was a good start to the day!

After a couple hours with the woodpeckers, I continued up to Killarney. On the highway into the park, I found a black bear with 4 cubs feeding right along the road. This was my first-time photographing wild black bear cubs - so you can imagine how ecstatic I was to spend about 5 minutes with them at close range before a "bear jam" of traffic scared them away.

Photographing Pileated Woodpeckers and Black Bears in the same day ranks as a wildlife grand slam for me. And to top off the weekend, I spent the rest of my weekend along spectacular stretches of the Georgian Bay shoreline shooting landscapes. I'm too tired to post those photos now (have been up since 4:30 this morning) so check back soon - I'll get them up when I catch up on my sleep!
Ethan-

Pileated Woodpeckers at nest
EOS 1DsmIII; 500/5 IS with 1.4x or 2x TC. Fill flash at -2 1/3




Black Bear cubs, Killarney Provincial Park
EOS 1DsmIII; 500/5 IS