Producer Ann Johnson Prum and cinematographer Mark Carroll travel to western Poland to film the nest of the elusive Black Woodpecker. Working with local Biologist Romuald Mikusek they find a nest over 50 feet high. Using climbing gear Mark ascends the tree to mount cameras to film inside and outside the nest.
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TRANSCRIPT
(birds chirping) - [Anne] Hi, I'm Anne Prum, producer and cinematographer of 'Woodpeckers: The Hole Story'. - [Speaker] All right, I'm gonna head up (carabiner clicking) - [Anne] To film one of the coolest woodpeckers in Europe, cinematographer Mark Carroll and I travel to western Poland to the Stowlowe National Park.
(birds chirping) - [Anne] How does it feel today?
- [Mark] Feels good.
We got one of our friends right here.
Here's our previous rigging.
Some nice tie off points for our cameras.
It's been here for a while so the birds are totally accepting of it.
Here I hear babies - [Anne] With the help of local biologist, Ramal Mizak, We had several nesting pairs of black woodpeckers.
The nest we chose to film was fantastic except that it was 60 feet up a Beech tree.
(birds chirping) This was a healthy tree and safe to climb.
So each morning, Mark Carroll would descend the tree with climbing ascenders and place cameras inside and outside the nest cavity.
(birds chirping) - [Mark] I'm gonna angle down even more if I need to.
- [Anee] Each climb was incredibly strenuous and Mark would sometimes have to make this climb several times a day.
(birds chirping) If it started to rain or if there were minor adjustments that needed to be made with the cameras, he would sometimes have to climb the tree up to five times a day.
But the opportunity to get such close and intimate views of this little family was well worth the effort.
(birds chirping) - [Mark] That's cool.
(birds chirping) - [Anne] This was a wonderful Woodpecker family to work with and didn't seem to mind our intrusions.
(birds chirping)
