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I just set my BirdCam up this week and am really enjoying it so far (I work in marketing for Wingscapes but just got my hands on my own!). When I was a kid I would sit for hours in the woods with my grandfather recording bird calls, but that was decades ago and now I'm trying to get back to my birding roots.
What tips and advice do you have for someone like me who is trying to attract birds? Where is your favorite spot for your BirdCam?
My first pics...
Some birds are named for obvious physical markings – Black-headed Grosbeak, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, etc. However a few end up with names that make one think that the feature included in the name should be easily visible while it is in fact rarely seen.
Case in point: the Red-bellied Woodpecker, shown here using a wonderful image submitted to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery by BirdCam aficionado David in Cary, NC. A result of studying mounted bird specimens in the lab rather than live ones in the field, the pale red “wash” for which the bird is named is far less visible than its brilliant red head.
The BirdCam was featured on Birmingham's Fox6 news as part of their "Absolutely Alabama" segment, which brings attention to the state's best-kept secrets and homegrown inventions. They interviewed Bart about how he came up with the idea for the BirdCam and showed some photos and videos.
One of the questions that is often asked of Team Wingscapes when we are demonstrating the Wingscapes BirdCam is “Can it capture still images of birds in flight?” Indeed it can.
As this image of a Pine Warbler submitted to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery by BirdCam enthusiast extraordinaire David of Cary, NC demonstrates, the BirdCam has both the quick reaction time as well as the photographic capacity to obtain great pictures of flying birds. In fact, these pictures are quite often very illuminating in that they reveal some of the amazing body postures required of birds while airborne.
Not long ago Team Wingscapes was thrilled by the submission of an image to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery showing a bird we dared not even hope for in a scene that took our breath away – a Laysan Albatross with a nest.
Now Hob from Kauai, the generous BirdCam enthusiast who submitted the earlier albatross image has added to it with this superb scene of not one but two Laysan Albatross adults along with a still downy chick in the nest. Talk about seeing what you’ve been missing! Thanks for the superb images Hob!
The Great Backyard Bird Count was this past weekend, and hopefully the BirdCam came in handy for those of you who participated. Birdwoman writes in her Houston Chronicle Backyard Birder Blog about how she set up her BirdCam to document her Bird Count list.
Though the count is over, you can submit your checklist from now until March 1. So far 579 species have been observed, and these are currently the top 5 most frequently reported birds:
1. Northern Cardinal
2. Mourning Dove
3. Dark-eyed Junco
4. American Goldfinch
5. Downy Woodpecker
While feeders and bird baths make wonderful backgrounds in bird photos, sometimes you just want something different. Bird photographers have long struggled with getting the bird they want to photograph to land in just the right place to obtain the best background scene for their photos – so they developed a trick to help them do so.
As this Tufted Titmouse image submitted to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery by AJ in Lakehurst, NJ demonstrates, simply scatter a bit of seed or spread a little suet into a depression in an old log, then aim your Wingscapes BirdCam right at that area.
The BirdCam was featured on the Martha Stewart show last Friday as part of a segment on backyard birding. Dr. Stephen Kress was on discussing bird feeders and ways to enjoy birding at home.
Despite our intention to post directly from the Space Coast Birding & Nature Festival being thwarted by a bit of Internet connection trouble, the overall experience of Team Wingscapes at the festival itself was terrific. The visitors stopping by the Wingscapes booth to check out the BirdCam were very enthusiastic and eager to acquire a BirdCam of their own to begin capturing images of the visitors to their own backyard feeders.
BirdCam inventor Bart Stephens spent considerable time at the booth giving helpful advice to both new and experienced BirdCam users.
