WINGSCAPES

Surprise Woodpecker

It happens to all birdwatchers. Regardless of how detailed your notes are or how many photos you take, there will at some point be that one bird you didn't particularly notice at first but about which you later found yourself thinking when the cartoon light bulb suddenly appears over your head and you say "Hey! that was a..."

Such was the late response we had to this colorful image of a Mourning Dove and a woodpecker that Milton from Surprise, Arizona uploaded to the Wingscapes BirdCam Photo Gallery. At first we just enjoyed it as a great photo but recently we exclaimed "Hey! That's a Gila Woodpecker."  Needless to say - this one goes onto the Wingscapes BirdCam Life List.

"Stock the Buffet" for Great Photos

One of the most effective techniques used by professional bird and wildlife photographers to ensure as many opportunities for capturing as many images as possible is to set out a “little treat” to entice the intended subjects to visit the place in which it would be best to photograph them.

Wingscapes BirdCam user Harold from Jackson, Tennessee wonderfully demonstrates this technique in a collection of Red-bellied Woodpecker images he recently uploaded to the BirdCam Photo Gallery. As can be seen, the hole in the tree has been packed with suet – ensuring that suet-loving birds will be attracted to the spot.

Everybody Knows Woody

Of all the species of woodpecker commonly seen in North America, the Pileated Woodpecker is certainly the most easily recognized. Its large size and unmistakable, bright red up-swept crest make it instantly recognizable. Of course, the popularity of a certain cartoon character named Woody also helped to make this species the one most people think of when they hear the word "woodpecker."

BirdCam user Joe from Concord, Ohio recently uploaded to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery this image he recorded during the past winter of this iconic woodpecker demonstrating its remarkable ability to feed even while hanging upside down. Thanks Joe!

Juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker

June – the month when the young adults of not only humans but a variety of species leave both their proverbial as well as real nests and set out for life in the world.

Keep your eyes open in your backyard and on walks around your neighborhood, and you’re likely to see the juveniles from a number of different bird species testing their wings and exercising their new-found freedom.

Naturally, some will be recorded by BirdCams. For example, these two superb images of a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker were recently submitted to the Wingscapes BirdCam Photo Gallery by Margaret from Birmingham, Alabama. Many thanks indeed, Margaret.

Bird Yoga

One of the amazing things about birds is the way that many of them can turn their heads almost 180 degrees and look directly over their own backs. What allows them this astonishing range of motion is the high number of vertebrae in their necks; the purpose for it is to allow them to preen and clean their feathers using their beaks.

This amazing image of a Red-bellied Woodpecker was recently uploaded to the Wingscapes BirdCam Photo Gallery by Cher from central New York state. Regardless of how much yoga you do, it’s a good bet you can’t master this pose.

See Any Red There?

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.

Twisted Flicker

The Northern Flickers are back in northwest Oregon. After their normal brief early summer absence, single birds are now beginning to be seen in the area. This is the time of year when they tend to spend more time on the ground feeding on ants, however occasionally they will still be seen visiting feeders.

While the flicker in this image may look to be either injured or suffering from a severe crick in the neck, it is actually perfectly fine. Birds have more vertebrae in their necks than most other animals – from thirteen to twenty-five depending upon the species in question (humans only have seven). As each vertebra in the neck of most any animal can only be rotated a certain limited amount, having more of these bones in the neck allows for greater rotation of the head. Having so many vertebrae in their necks allows birds to twist their heads quite far around, completely backward at times, in order to use their beaks to preen hard-to-reach feathers.

Oh the Birds You'll See!

John, from Scappoose, Oregon and the author of the Born Again Bird Watcher blog, wrote this review of the BirdCam.

John, thank you for trying out the BirdCam and for writing a great review!

John writes:

"For years, when it came to remote, motion triggered, observation cameras, I was dubious. I had seen many, some quite good, others (and quite frankly most) quite poor in photo quality. The vast majority seemed designed to satisfy those who rigged them up on a trail and were content to know how many points were on the antlers of any passing deer. The best were strictly in the price range of institutions engaged in research of the highest level - but even these often did not produce images that could be seen as suitable for framing. To make matters worse, many of the models I had seen over the years were off-puttingly complex in their programming requirements. All that changed, however, when I discovered the Wingscapes BirdCam.

"With the Wingscapes BirdCam, I opened the box, had a quick look through the straight-forward and easy-to-understand directions, popped in a few batteries and an SD card, mounted the unit on a feeder post, flicked the switch, and walked away.

"A few hours later, I returned to an SD card full of some remarkable images of birds taken from a distance much closer than I could have ever crept with a hand held camera and with a greater depth of field than is allowed by adding high magnification to the process."

Winter Birds from Cindy in Indy!

Cindy from Indianapolis wrote in with these great shots.

Cindy writes:

Still loving the BirdCam.  Can't wait for all the springtime birds to return for their portraits

BirdCam User's Video ID Quiz

...from our series "Catching up the Items to Blog Backlog"...

The Wandering Tattler, posted some great video clips of different birds he sees at his feeder. 

Can you identify all of the different birds in the below video?

Thanks Paul!

Paul Writes:

With a 2 Gig memory card the BirdCam was able to capture almost 200 videos spanning the entire day today.

I focused it on the suet hanging from our platform feeder to see who would show up. Here's a collection of the best clips from today.

Ten points to anyone who can identify all of the birds in the video. An extra five points for anyone that can ID them to specific forms or subspecies (when applicable). I was really surprised by one of the birds it caught hanging off of the feeder. I totally didn't expect to see one of those doing that. It was very uncharacteristic of the species.

From our Friends at Wild Bird Centers...

Mary Swanson from the Wild Bird Center in Birmingham, Alabama submits these great photos taken by Dave Boyd from the Wild Bird Center in Dunwoody, Georgia. 

Mary Writes: "This Cam is set up in back of his store!!  Pictures 3 & 4 are just great bluebird shots on our WBC private label feeder! Thought you might enjoy these."

A Bluebird next to a garbage dumpster...that is a contrast for you.

Thank you Mary and Dave.

In another email Mary writes:

These pics are from the WBC in Dunwoody, Georgia taken in the rear parking lot of the store!!  All I get here are sparrows and he has all these great birds - not fair!

Photos Submitted from Indianapolis

We received this great photo from Cindy in Indianapolis of a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a European Starling.

Cindy Writes:
Sharing a fun photo taken with my bird cam...My name is Cindy and it was taken in Indianapolis, Indiana
PS - LOVE the camera!!!

Great shot Cindy. Thank you.

BirdCam Week at The Zen Birdfeeder

I'm working through a backlog of items I want to post about. In early December, our friend Nancy Castillo posted some great BirdCam images on her blog The Zen Birdfeeder.  Nancy runs a Wild Birds Unlimited store and was one of our first dealers to catch-on to a great benefit of the BirdCam...it can be used to showcase other products.

On Monday, Nancy posted some great images of Woodpeckers and Nuthatches, including this one in which she captured a Downy and Hairy woodpecker together. This two are nearly identical except for their size. (Hairy is similar size to Red bellied or Red headed Woodpeckers,...Downy is smaller.)

...the Tuesday, Nancy showcased the WBU Eliminator feeder...
 

...on Wednesday, Nancy posted some cool shots of various Rodentia...

...on Thursday, it was a smattering of different birds. I was surprised recently to learn that many backyard birders have an aversion to Blue Jays. I love them. They take great photos...

...on Friday, Nancy posted some great video. Click here to check it out.

Wingscapes loves Nancy. She is a BirdCammer of the first order.

City Birder Finds BirdCam Success

Since beginning this project two years ago, I've been reading birding blogs. I have a particular interest in urban bird blogs. One of the most compelling aspects of birding is that it provides a way for people to connect with wildlife and nature regardless of where they live. Anyone, anywhere can enjoy birds...less true with other types of wildlife. That so much bio-diversity exists in cities is missed by many, and it sets up an "ah ha!" moment for many beginning birders. Once you realize how many species are around you everyday, it is hard not to be curious about what you can find if you actually start looking.

Anyway, I've enjoyed urban bird blogs like City Birder and  A DC Birding Blog for a while. I'd asked both to test out the BirdCam and was eager to see some images, especially from New York City. I was surprised when Rob Jett (City Birder) didn't have quick success, but he seems to have had a watershed session with it. In just several hours, he captured a Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Chipping Sparrow and Purple Finch. Check out his post on December 1st. Hopefully we will see more BirdCam images from NYC.

 

New Jersey Red-belly

David Saidnawey of Red Bank, NJ's Wild Birds Unlimited sent in this image of a Red-bellied Woodpecker pouncing on some suet. Some think this is the classic bird name misnomer. Maybe. I like the name because it requires a little memory to learn it. When we first started playing with prototypes of the BirdCam, I would test my wife's ID skills while we were reviewing that days images. She learned Red-headed Woodpecker quickly enough, but I knew it was sinking in once she nailed down the Red-bellied WP.

Cool Woodpecker Shots

Here's another woodpecker shot from testing at Carpenter.

I love this shot of a male downy woodpecker.  He looks as if he is saying, "You lookin' at me?  Yeah, I'm banging this suet, you wanna make somethin' of it?" 

Actually, what I think is really going on is that the downy has just landed on the feeder and is getting his balance as the feeder is swinging back and forth.  You can tell this is downy woodpecker as opposed to a hairy woodpecker because of the downy looking feathers around the bill and the size of the feeder in relation to the woodpecker.

Here is a larger hairy woodpecker.  It's hard to tell from this angle, but the bill is much longer and larger on this species than on a hairy.  You can also see a band on the woodpecker's foot.  This is the same woodpecker from the previous shot.  Since you can get so close with this camera, you really get a chance to notice tiny details.

Testing At Carpenter

I did some more testing with the camera at Carpenter Nature Center today.  I find that it's taking some practice on my part for finding the best light to get the best shot of the birds.  I have the option of having the camera take a few photos or several photos at once, but find that I like it taking as many photos as possible.  Even if the photo isn't the clearest, I'm learning some very cool things.

I found that one of the hairy woodpeckers visiting their feeders was wearing a band.  This wasn't too much of a surprise to me, since Carpenter does have a program for banding songbirds, but I noticed in I photo that I can enlarge the image and read some of the numbers on the band.  Pretty sweet.

Another fun image I was able to capture was the upclose shot of a male downy woodpecker.  I was able to place the camera close enough to the suet feeder that you can see the dark brown iris of his eyes.

War Eagles, Nesting Ospreys, and IVORY BILLS!!!

As a life-long University of Alabama football fan, it pains me to say this: War Eagle! That is the battle-cry of Alabama's instate rivals, the Auburn University tigers.

Never before have I felt as much pride in Auburn as I did after reading about the school's involvement with the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Some time ago, I'd heard the news about how Auburn biologists had collected sound recordings from northwest Florida that  suggested the presence of Ivory-bills, but I hadn't really dug into the story until today.

The swampy search area is familiar to me from childhood vacations. I learned to water ski in Choctawhatchee River and fondly remember watching Osprey nests there years ago.

Anyone interested in the Ivory-bills, field biology, the Florida panhandle, or Auburn will find this story riveting. I really have to hand it to this team. Not only does their search appear to be yeilding results, but they have chosen to be very open with their findings and field recordings.

Check out these two excellent webpages...

Auburn University - Ivory Bill Webpage

Dan Mennill's Ivory-billed Woodpecker Webpage

Early Photos...

Here are some images taken during very early camera tests. Before seeing these photos, we were unaware that Red-bellied and Red-headed woodpeckers were visiting the feeders. They had been coming in the middle of the day while everyone was at work. Check back periodically to see more recent images.