WINGSCAPES

Tough Seed to Crack for a Pine Siskin

Pine Siskins are a bit of a vagabond species; ornithologists call them “irruptive.” For avid feeders of birds, this simply means that some years you see a lot of them and in others hardly any.

We’ve seen a few in Scappoose so far this autumn; neither more nor less than average. However we were very surprised to discover this recent picture form the BirdCam showing one eating a sunflower seed from a suet block. Normally they prefer thistle seed more suitable and easily cracked by their small, pointy beaks.

Full Frame Flicker

A question that is often asked about the Wingscapes BirdCam is “How close can you position the BirdCam to a feeder and still get a clear image?” The answer is 18 inches. At this close distance, images of some birds visiting the feeder will almost fill the entire frame.

I had the BirdCam set at just a shade over 18 inches from our suet feeder in Scappoose when this Northern Flicker stopped by just the other day. Not an exceptionally large bird, the flicker covers well over two thirds of the width of the picture.

Wingscapes at the NSTA Portland Area Conference

For the next few days, science teachers from far and wide will be gathering in Portland, Oregon at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Area Conference in that fair city. Naturally, as the Wingscapes BirdCam is such a superb educational tool for anyone teaching life sciences, a member of Team Wingscapes will be there demonstrating all the BirdCam has to offer in the classroom and beyond.

All those attending the area conference are heartily encouraged to stop by the Wingscapes booth located in space 112 in the exhibit hall at the Oregon Convention Center from November 20th through 22nd.

Up Front Flicker

One of the benefits of the Wingscapes BirdCam is its portability. Get tired of recording images at one feeder? Simply move it to another – or reposition it to an entirely different portion of your yard. You’ll really be surprised at the difference a mere few yards of movement can make, especially if you shift it from a shrubby corner to a more open space.

I recently moved my BirdCam from a shrub-shaded ground position out back to a suet feeder in the front yard locust tree. Voila! Instant Northern Flicker. (Don’t mind the Dark-eyed Junco – they’re everywhere right now.)

The Juncos Have Landed

As Dark-eyed Juncos are beginning to be seen in the Pacific Northwest, as they in many other parts of the country, I took the BirdCam down from the Mounting Arm on which it was positioned and placed it directly on the ground to capture some images of these ground feeding birds.

Incidentally, if you, like me, have wondered at the odd name of these charming little birds, it comes from their Latin scientific name, Junco hyemalis - juncus for “a rush or reed,” and hyemalis, for “winter.” A winter bird that frequents reedy areas; well, they got it half right.

Heeeyyyy… Chachalaca!

While Wingscapes was attending the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen, Texas, we slipped away over to Weslaco and paid a visit to the Valley Nature Center. A splendid urban wildlife refuge, Valley Nature offers easily accessible trails through some of the valley’s best birding and butterfly watching habitat. Naturally, we brought along a BirdCam and set it up while we were there. As the picture shows, a flock of Plain Chachalacas, one of the valley’s famous endemic birds, visited while we were exploring the rest of the center.

Sharing the Joy

While the Wingscapes team always enjoys receiving photos from enthusiastic Wingscapes BirdCam users, we also love to discover them posted on blogs and photo sharing websites. Bill of the Birds has done precisely that over at his blog of the same name.

If you post some of your own BirdCam’s images on your blog, or perhaps on a social media page like YouTube, Flickr, or Picasa, please drop us a note with a link to the image so we can share it with other readers of the Wingscapes blog as well. 

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.