WINGSCAPES

No Other Red Will Do

Even though the Ruby-throated Hummingbird carries the description of its most distinguishing quality right in its own name, there are certain moments when one sees a male of the species, either in life or in a photograph, and stops transfixed, thinking “What an absolutely perfect name it is by which we call this little flying gem!”

 

Such an image was recently shared with us in the BirdCam Photo Gallery by Sue from Dracut, Massachusetts. Captured in flight and positioned perfectly to allow the light full play across his iridescent gorget, he displays a shade of red on his throat that is so warm, so glowing and translucent that comparison to no other object than a ruby can suffice to describe it.

Hawkmoth!

One of the great things about perusing the WIngscapes photo gallery is all the surprises it contains; for example, the amazing image of this hawkmoth that was recorded and uploaded by John in Charleston, South Carolina.

 
Thanks to the flash on the BirdCam 2.0, John was able to record what we think is the first ever BirdCam image of a moth. Just how this particular moth, tenatively identified as a Pink-spotted Hawkmoth (Agrius cingulata), lacking the heat signature of a warm-blooded creature managed to trigger the camera is unclear. Nevertheless we are thrilled to be able to share the resulting picture here with everyone and to extend a hearty "Thanks!" and "Well done!" to John.

Backyard Monks

While we're not certain if Rick from Tamarac, Florida has ever had an Orange Bishop on his landing, thanks to the marvelous series of images he took with his Audubon BirdCam and uploaded to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery we do know that his mother has little green monks in her backyard - Monk Parakeets that is. 

Not native to Florida, or anywhere else in the United States for that matter, Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) were imported from South America to the U.S. by the thousands in the 1960s to be kept as pets. Many escaped and others were simply released; thus there are now tens of thousands of these birds in localized populations in several states from Florida to Washington.

By the way, sorry for the obscrure Monty Python's Flying Circus allusion - it just fit too well not to include. The Orange Bishop (Euplectes franciscanus) is another non-native species imported - in this case from Africa - for similar reasons as the Monk Parakeet; however while it was found in Florida during the 1990s, it is now thought to have been successfully extirpated from the state.

Happy Labor Day!

While birds “neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,” they most certainly do labor – particularly in the construction of nests. This being Labor Day in the United States we thought it therefore appropriate to stop for a moment and consider just what a monumental effort this actually is for them.

 
Using only their beaks either to chisel out or carry all the needed materials to the nesting site, each year millions upon millions of nesting birds create a structure that provides both shelter from the elements as well as protection and concealment against predators. Even if they nest in a box or birdhouse like these bluebirds, they still must build the actual nest inside it; the box is just the foundation.

It makes us tired just thinking about it. Thank goodness we have the day off today.

An Unfriendly Greeting?

“Go away! Go away!” That would be quite a surprising thing to hear as you stepped out your back door and into your garden one morning; however if you lived in South Africa you just might. Fortunately it wouldn’t be one of your human neighbors expressing a less than friendly sentiment but the call of the Grey Go-away-bird.

 

The Go-away-bird, Corythaixoides concolor, is a South African species of Turaco also commonly called the Grey Lourie or the Kwêvoël. Mostly fructivorous (fruit-eating), these birds are also fond of plant buds and insects on occasion as well.

Needless to say, this image of one, submitted to the BirdCam Photo Gallery by Justin from South Africa, certainly adds another species to the BirdCam Life List. Baie dankie and thanks Justin!

Flicker, flickr, and Creative Commons

Stop by the Wingscapes BirdCam group on the popular photo sharing site flickr and you will find there, among the nearly six hundred other images uploaded by enthusiastic BirdCam users, this image depicting the red-shafted form of the Northern Flicker.

This particular flicker image was recorded and uploaded to flickr by John Riutta (OK, me); a point emphasized here due to the copyright setting of the photo being "Attribution." This means that so long as the owner of the photo is identified, it can be shown on other websites.

There are hundreds of other superb images in the group that we'd love to share with everyone here on the blog but as the copyright on most of them is "All Rights Reserved," we can't without direct permission. So in order to make it easier to share your wonderful images of which you are sufficiently proud (and understandably so) to have uploaded to the flickr Wingscapes BirdCam group, please set the license settings to "Attribution Creative Commons" so we can easily share them here and further increase the number of people able to enjoy them.

Midnight Snack

Of all the features of the BirdCam 2.0, the flash has certainly done the most to enable BirdCam users to discover and record images of the many interesting creatures that prowl the night right outside their very doors. From skunks to raccoons to deer and even bears, BirdCam users have been uploading images they’ve recorded of their local nocturnal wildlife to the Photo Gallery like never before.

 

One such recent contributor is Derek of Lalvern, UK who shared this brilliant image of a fox making a night-time visit to an impromptu “fox feeder.” Brilliant photo Derek! Many thanks indeed for sharing it with everyone.

The Song That Could Have Been

What if back in 1968, while engrossed in writing the lyrics to the songs to be included in what would eventually become The White Album, Paul McCartney had looked out of his window and seen a sight similar to the one below? Would we have instead been singing “Blackbird sitting in a flower pot…” all this time?

 

Perhaps, although not very likely. Sir Paul’s famous song "Blackbird" was about something entirely different than the simple enjoyment of the melodies produced by these marvelous singing thrushes. Nevertheless, our sincere thanks go out to John from Farnham Common, UK for sharing this wonderful BirdCam image of his own garden Blackbird with us.

What's Your Guess?

Think for a moment about feathers. They provide birds with protection from the environment, enable them to fly (well, most of them at least), and identify them to one another – and to us as well. So when a bird molts, as it must do at least once each year to replace worn or damaged feathers, problems in all these above-mentioned areas occur.

 

In the case of the molting bird in this image, uploaded to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery by Glenna from Mississauga, Ontario, many of the feathers crucial to its identification are not present. Any guesses as to what it might be?

Not Your Everyday Pigeons

For those who spend all their time in cities, the idea of getting excited over seeing a pigeon likely seems absurd. After all, pigeons are pigeons – if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Right?

Well… not quite. While the non-native pigeon commonly seen in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada (officially named the Rock Dove) is not a bird of great interest to most birders, the native one – the Band-tailed Pigeon – most certainly is.

 

Pam from Redwood City, California, was fortunate enough to have had three visit her deck recently and pose for a few BirdCam photos. Thanks for sharing these Pam!

They Grow Up So Fast!

One of the first and most frequent pieces of advice given to new parents is "Take lots of pictures because before you know it the little one (or ones) will be grown up and out of the house." This same piece of advice is also very much applicable to everyone who maintains a birdhouse - if you want to see the little ones before they're grown and gone, you need to take lots of pictures; or have a BirdCam.

Joan from Sturgeon Lake, Wisconsin, who uploaded this and three other images like it to the BirdCam Photo Gallery, notes that for years she has had wrens nesting in her birdhouse but unlike in years past, thanks to the BirdCam she got to see the young wrens before they left the nest this year.

Small Surpise

While most people who set out and maintain bird feeders have a somewhat contentious relationship with their local squirrels, the same is generally not the case with chipmunks. Perhaps it’s the chipmunks’ smaller size, maybe it’s their almost genteel behavior; it could even be a lingering effect of our watching Chip and Dale cartoons as children – whatever the reason, a chipmunk is generally a welcome backyard visitor.

 

This particular backyard-visiting chipmunk was photographed in a location thought to be inaccessible to it by the BirdCam of photo gallery contributor Robin from Amherst, Massachusetts. Apparently being small has quite a variety of advantages.

An Original Robin

Opinions differ about just how the bird commonly known as the American Robin got its name. One popular story follows the idea that when early settlers from Europe arrived on the eastern shores of what would someday become the United States and Canada, they thought the orange-breasted thrushes they saw there looked similar to the Robins they knew so well back in Europe; hence they called these New World birds by the same name – robins.

 

John from Farnham Common, UK, however knows perfectly well what Robins really look like and was kind enough to share an image of one he recorded with his BirdCam. Seeing this, we can easily understand how those early settlers might have been confused.

The Stork Brought Us a New Addition

All of us here at Wingscapes are as proud as we can be to announce a new addition brought to us by the stork. Well, not “the” stork perhaps but “a” stork at least – the one pictured here to be specific.

What addition did the stork bring us you might ask? As if you couldn't guess. Why, a new addition to the Wingscapes BirdCam Life List of course.

Thanks to Sandra from Bonita Springs, Florida’s contribution to the BirdCam Photo Gallery of this wonderful image of a Wood Stork that she captured with her BirdCam, we can proudly add the species to our ever growing life list. Thanks Sandra!

It's All In How You Approach the Problem

In life, some challenges are a little more daunting in others. While some obstacles are easily overcome with the resources at hand, the solutions to others are more elusive and require far more creativity for the problem to be solved.

 

Take the one faced by this Baltimore Oriole in an image uploaded to the BirdCam Photo Gallery by Jeanne of Gretna, Nebraska. The feeder appears to have no convenient perch upon which to rest so as to easily feed on the luscious grape jelly it holds. No matter – the clever oriole simply adopts a common chickadee or nuthatch feeding posture and takes a perpendicular approach to solving the problem.

Rhapsody in Blue

There’s something special about the color blue when it appears in nature. From the clear blue sky of a sunny summer day to the powdery pale blue of the tiny Spring Azure butterfly and even to the ever-popular Eastern and Western Bluebirds that inspire the proverbial reference to the “bluebird of happiness,” seeing blue in the natural world just seems to put a song in one’s heart.

That being the case, we might reasonably assume that Michael in Shorewood, Wisconsin experienced a veritable cardiac symphony when he downloaded this superb image of a male Indigo Bunting from his Wingscapes BirdCam.

Little Foxes

When it comes to sheer, overpowering cuteness, few things can compete with baby animals. Take these four little foxes recorded by Janice from Coon Rapids, Minnesota. While as adults they might be considered as unwelcome intruders into a backyard, garden enclosure, or, to acknowledge the classic old saying, henhouse, as kits (the proper name for a young fox) they are too adorable to elicit most any other reaction than “awww…”

 

From this BirdCam image and another also submitted by Janice, it seems that these little guys were born in a den beneath the pictured shed. Kudos to Janice for thinking to set up her BirdCam and record them outside of their den.

Absolutely Brilliant Woodpecker

In the U.S., calling something "brilliant" usually means that it's shiny or bright; however in England, "brilliant" is also a commonly used term meaning "fantastic" or "superb" - which is exactly what we called this image of a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

   

Submitted, along with quite a few other, well... brilliant images, to the Wingscapes BirdCam Photo Gallery by Tony from Yeovil, Sommerset, UK, these beautiful black, white, and red birds are common feeder visitors throughout England, Wales, and southern Scotland, as well as across Europe and well into Russia.

A BirdCam View of South Africa

When we first saw this photo in the Wingscapes BirdCam flickr® group, we thought “Those are some really unusual-looking sparrows.” However when we took a closer look (and read the photo’s caption) we quickly understood that they were Cape Sparrows (and a Cape Weaver) from South Africa!

 

 Jackie from South Africa, the contributor of this as well as a host of other fabulous BirdCam-recorded images to the Wingscapes BirdCam flickr group pool, is one of the creators of the Global Bird Trekkers website – a great online resource for photos and video of the birdlife of South Africa and points beyond.

Almost Frozen Rufous Hummingbird

Capturing an image of a hummingbird in flight where the wings are frozen in the moment is not easy. With a wing beat speed of around 60 per second, even a professional-level DSLR camera often can’t do it. 

Which is why we were all very impressed by this BirdCam image of a male Rufous Hummingbird uploaded to the BirdCam Photo Gallery by Jacki from Fairfield, California. The body of the bird is in crystal-clear focus while the wings are almost frozen in the down-stroke with just a hint of their upstroke ghost remaining to give the viewer the full feeling of just how fast those little wings were moving.