WINGSCAPES

Oh! A Deer - a Black-tailed Deer

Set up a Wingscapes BirdCam in your backyard and sooner or later (most likely sooner) you'll capture a few images of creatures other than birds. A visiting squirrel might be the first added to your mammal collection, or perhaps a raccoon. However if you're lucky, you might record something a little larger.

This passing Black-tailed Deer fawn (a subspecies of Mule Deer found in the Pacific Northwest) was recorded not long ago as it strolled along our back terrace toward the shade of the decorative Japanese Maples that have now become its regular afternoon napping place.

Laughing Gull Makes the BirdCam Life List

David from Cary, North Carolina has found another bird for the BirdCam Life List.  Here are some great shots he sent in of some Laughing Gulls "smiling" for the Wingscapes BirdCam.

Thanks David!

David writes:

I would like to claim a new life list species! The attached are photos of Laughing Gulls photographed with my BirdCam at Kure Beach, North Carolina.

The Towhees are Back

Even though the weather is still more or less sunny and warm in the Pacific Northwest, you can tell autumn is approaching by the fact that the Spotted Towhees are back. (Some are actually here year round but they all but disappear during in the summer months.) A member of the same family as many familiar sparrows and juncos, these scrappy orange and black birds can be quite aggressive in defending their personal space while picking through the seeds on the ground beneath birdfeeders.

Desert Wildlife from Arizona

Our friends Shirley and Wayne from Cottonwood, Arizona have sent us two more BirdCam photos, a Common Raven and a Collared Peccary (commonly called a Javelina) to add to our Avian and Non-Avian BirdCam Life Lists. They have truly set the bar for the number of BirdCam Life List pictures we have received from our very excited customers!

Shirley writes:

Ravens don't come in to feed at our feeders, so you can imagine my surprise as I looked through the photos this day

...as we were eating dinner tonight along came a Javelina, or Peccary as it is really called. The last time they came through in the day time there were about 20 in the herd. The little babies are red and so cute! But tonight there was only one... this one is a medium sized one.

Greater Ani Photo from Panama

One of the great things about the Wingscapes BirdCam being used by ornithologists in their field research projects is that they send us images of some amazing birds. Christine Riehl, a researcher from Princeton University who uses BirdCams in her field studies, sent this amazing photo from one of her BirdCams in Panama of a Greater Ani leaving its nest.

Needless to say that we'll be adding this one to the BirdCam Life List!

Stretching Doves, Posing Cardinal from Florida

Pam from Malabar, Florida continues to send us great shots of birds and other wildlife that visit her yard.

Thanks Pam!

Pam writes:

I know you have the Mourning Dove on your life list, but thought this picture from the BirdCam was especially pretty. My husband Richard gave me the BirdCam for Christmas, and we let it take pictures every day. It’s always a treat to see what surprises we have when we get home from work.

Of course you have a picture of a cardinal, but I thought this picture from the BirdCam was especially pretty. Sometimes we put seed on an old stump and this picture captured the Northern Cardinal with the flowers behind it.

You may have noticed I do crop the pictures to get rid of unwanted background, but otherwise the picture is straight from the BirdCam.

(The Wingscapes Blog Team really likes the Common Ground-Dove picture you sent us as well, Pam.)

Katie Stumpf - Ornithologist, BirdCam User

Katie Stumpf, a doctoral candidate at Northern Arizona University, stopped by the Wingscapes display at the American Ornithologists' Union's 2008 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon last week to say hello and to report that she was very happy with the Wingscapes BirdCams she is using in her field research studying nest predation.

It's always great to hear from satisfied BirdCam users and especially gratifying to hear updates of how the BirdCam continues to be used in important ornithological research.

New BirdCam Life List Created

Pam in Malabar, Florida has sent us some great images of mammals that we are going to add to the new BirdCam Non-Avian Life List we have created. So far, Pam holds the record for non-avian species images sent in to Wingscapes.

Thanks Pam!

Northern Raccoon

Eastern Cottontail

Amazing Photo of Cardinal in Flight

Check out this great shot we received from Charles in Staten Island, New York of a Northern Cardinal in flight that was recorded by the Wingscapes BirdCam. 

Thanks Charles!

Northern Bobwhite added to the BirdCam Life List

Regular BirdCam photo contributor Pam from Malabar has such a variety of species in her yard. She recently sent us these great pictures of a pair of Northern Bobwhites. Since these are the first images of this particular species that we have received they have been added to our BirdCam Life List.

Thanks Pam!