It's Easy to Animate a Little Pecker

First You Have to Find One

Little peckers are common in Japan, anywhere from Okinawa to Hokkaido.

They are also found throughout parts of Asia, such as China and Korea.

When you spot one like this, don't make any noises and sneak as close as you can to it.

A tripod is recommended but, you could steady the camera on a rock or, tree limb.

The bird was busy, pulling wood out of a dead tree probably, to nest in. Sawdust was flying.

Take Plenty of Photos

There are seven images, I used to create this GIF but, I probably shot fifty of this bird today.

If, you don't have a Google Photo account, get one; it's free.

To make one of these animated GIF's in less than five minutes, here's all you have to do:

1. Upload to your Photo account

2. When the upload is complete, refresh your browser

3. Next, hit CREATE, it's just to the left of the UPLOAD button

4. A window drops down and gives you choices Create new Animation, is what you want

5. Select the images you want to use in the animation

6. Checkmarks will appear on the selected photos. Hit CREATE and, you're done

Recommendation 

Most of the animations I create will have from 5-9 images, sized at 800 pixels wide.

Before downloading animations, I check the info feature on Google Photos.

To keep GIF's from being over 3 million bytes, don't add excess photos to the animation.

If you use Twitter or, just post them on a website, you don't want humongous files.

Brenna the Google Photos expert is the one to ask if, you want to learn more.

Related Post: Do They Really Have Little Peckers in Japan ?

When Wildlife Calls Get Out of Town (Photo Essay)

Today I got on the road with RyukyuRu.  We went to do some photography in the city, again.

Starting at UNESCO Shuri Castle I recomposed a photo I had done before at night.

Then moved outside the castle gates to shoot another UNESCO World Heritage property that is missed by most visitors, even though they walk right by it on their way into the castle.

It is the Stone Gate of Sonohyan Utaki.

That is the entrance to a sacred site where worship took place when Okinawa was known as the Ryukyu Kingdom and the property is still considered sacred to most Okinawans to this date.

To make sure I don't get this Utaki, or shrine confused with another one we have in the east  I caught a quick shot of this plaque.  I'll keep it on file along with the Stone Gate photo and have all the information I need for research in both Japanese and English.  You never know when it may come in handy.

Now, taking photos of castles, shrines, festivals is alright with me.  It can even be a challenge for me at times.  That can be fun but, I really enjoy being far away from any city a whole lot more.

Before we got to that bridge in the first photo, wildlife called me.

RyukyuRu was locking up the car or checking his GPS while I was off setting up a tripod.

When he caught up to me I sort of whispered "Woodpecker" and pointed in the direction I spotted it.  These characters don't hold still for very long.

That's where Continuous, or Burst Mode comes in handy.

After I knew I nabbed a good shot of some wildlife, we could have headed home.  I was happy.

But, we decided to investigate this patch of woods and found all kinds of things to shoot.

We'll have to get back there one of these days.  He can drop me off in the early morning,  go shoot castles, sacred sites, temples, waterfalls, or whatever else he sees along the trail.  Then, come back and pick me up at sunset.  When wildlife calls just get me out of town.