WINGSCAPES

Midwest Birding Symposium 2009 a Huge Success

As a proud sponsor of the 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium, members of the Wingscapes team recently attended the event to participate in its activities, lectures, and birding community fellowship, as well as to share with the attendees the news of the exciting new additions to the Wingscapes product line.

The symposium, held this year in Lakeside, Ohio, was by far the best yet of the Midwest Birding Symposia ever held. Superbly hosted by Bird Watcher's Digest, the Ohio Ornithological Society, and the community of Lakeside, Ohio, the event attracted over 800 participants.

Among the many activities available to attendees were the vendor hall where a wide variety of birding-related products, including the BirdCam 2.0 and the Audubon BirdCam, could be discovered and examined. There were also dozens of lectures presented by an international collection of authors, ornithologists, and birding guides, and even a display where live birds (such as this American Kestrel) and other creatures could be encountered much closer than would be possible in the wild.

As a result of the symposium, hundreds of birders were able to expand and enhance their birding knowledge, as well as meet fellow birders from around the world. However more importantly, as a result of the event thousands of dollars were raised for conservation activities benefiting birds and their habitats that will be undertaken by the Lakeside community, the Ohio Ornithological Society, and the Nature Conservancy to mention only a few.

Team Wingscapes' at the Space Coast 2009 Festival

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.

Team Wingscapes Has Landed

Well, here we are at the 12th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. The weather is cool but the skies are clear and bright. Most importantly, of course, the birds are abundant. The field trips are already returning with extensive lists of the species seen.

At the festival center, located in the Gymnatorium at Brevard Community College-North Campus, the exhibitor displays fill the room. It’s quite possibly the largest gatherings of birding product, organization, and art displays yet assembled for the Space Coast festival. Be sure to stop by booth #69 to check out the Wingscapes BirdCam and meet some of the team.

We're Headed for the Coast

…the Space Coast that is. Team Wingscapes will be demonstrating the Wingscapes BirdCam to all those attending 12th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival, held January 21-26, 2009 in Titusville, Florida.

One of the top birding and nature festivals in the United States, Space Coast offers a superb schedule of field trips, world class presentations, and an exhibit hall chock full of displays from birding equipment providers eager to demonstrate their fine products. Be sure to stop by the Wingscapes booth and meet some of the members of Team Wingscapes including the inventor of the BirdCam, Bart Stephens.

We're on the Road to Rio...

...Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival that is.

  

The 15th Annual Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival will be held November 5-9 in Harlingen, Texas. As always, there will be great field trips, exciting speakers, and an exhibition hall filled with displays from some of the finest suppliers of birding equipment – including, of course, Wingscapes.

If you’re planning to be in Harlingen this week, be sure to visit the festival, stop by the Wingscapes display in the exhibition hall, and say hello. We’ll be happy to demonstrate for you all the great features of the Wingscapes BirdCam or simply swap stories with those already enjoying a BirdCam of their own.

Wingscapes at the Verde Valley Birding Festival

Wingscapes took the “show on the road” to Arizona last week and attended the Verde Valley Birding & Nature Festival at the Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona. The weather was hot and dry, the people were warm and friendly, and the birding was superb.

While I escaped from the hottest parts of the days sheltered inside the main exhibition tent demonstrating the Wingscapes BirdCam to festival participants, the BirdCam was busily recording some of the feathered visitors to the feeders set-up along the trails near the festival site in the park.

The shelter of the spreading branches of the Cottonwood trees provides a natural oasis for the wildlife in the park so the feeders get a respectable share of the birds to be found in the area.

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(By the way, if you’ve ever wondered why they call it "Cottonwood," this shot of the seeds of the namesake trees caught up in the ground vegetation should provide the answer.)

Lark Sparrows and Lazuli Buntings were plentiful. Both spent considerable time on the ground picking through the seeds that had fallen from the feeders. The Lark Sparrows seemed to be far more tolerant of the hot sun, spending more time out in the open while the Lazuli Buntings kept in the shade as much as possible.

Another commonly seen bird, and one I did not expect, was the Cassin’s Finch. These finches were seen equally on the ground as well as at the feeder trays. The pale color of these birds was quite striking to all who were more familiar with their darker cousins found farther to the north. Of course, as with any ground-level placement of the BirdCam near a feeder, capturing images of seed-loving mammals, such as this Rock Squirrel in the picture, is always a possibility.

To get a wider variety of photos of local birds, a couple BirdCams were also loaned to birders living in the area.

As might be expected at many home-based birdfeeders, House Sparrows were quite common. However just like the Cassin’s Finches, the House Sparrows were considerably lighter in color than those seen farther north. Even their normal red showed more of a red-orange hue.

The local House Sparrows, however, showed no such lighter colors – they were as bold as would be found anywhere.

Being Arizona, there were of course hummingbirds.

Anna’s Hummingbirds are fairly easy to recognize by the bright, cherry-red faces of the males.

Black-chinned Hummingbirds were plentiful but a little more difficult to identify as their dark gorgets (throat patches of iridescent feathers) were much darker – as their name implies.

With all the great birds to be seen, who couldn’t have a good time? Many festival participants learned about the enjoyment that can be had with the BirdCam and some fine images were recorded with it. I even added a life bird – Common Black-hawk – to my own life list. How could anyone ask for more?