BirdCam Adventures

I wanted to take some time and follow up on a previous post about my new Wingscape BirdCam. I've really been enjoying this cool little camera, even more so now that I'm back to work from my two week holiday vacation. This time of year I leave the house when it's dark out, and if I'm lucky I may get an hour of afternoon daylight when I get home. With BirdCam it's nice to have the ability to capture a little glimpse of the days birding activity.

It's been fun experimenting with it in different locations and angles throughout my yard. Sometimes I wonder what the neighbors are thinking. They probably think that I'm some sort of pervert trying to take pictures threw their windows...lol! Oh well, I've learned that you can't focus too much on what others think, especially when it comes to neighbors.

Nothing spectacular, but here are a few of my favorite images thus far - click on any image to enlarge:

Eastern bluebirds

Red-bellied woodpecker

Mourning doves - check out the motion of the wings. His wings were flapping as the camera took the picture. Looks like its doing some sort of weird matrix type moves.

Even throughout the winter months, eastern bluebirds will often investigate nest boxes. In colder climates they will roost in them.

I have some other cool ideas with this camera I want to try this summer. I'm incorporating a new flower bed in my backyard and want to get some photos and video of butterflies and hummingbirds. The camera also has a time delay feature so it could actually capture a flower bloom opening. I have more to learn more about that feature...

If you're interested, there are a lot more BirdCam photo's on the Wingscapes web site: http://www.wingscapes.com/photogallery/

Expanding My Territory

I have expanded my bluebird box territory this week. My neighbor sits on about 6 acres of land. His house and immediate yard only takes up one acre, the rest is all grasslands with a couple medium size trees and a barn. It’s the perfect bluebird habitat.

I wasn’t too sure about how he would react to me asking for permission to put up a couple of bluebird boxes on his land so I thought a bit and came up with a foolproof plan. I got my cute little 3 year old daughter to walk over to his house with me. After a little small talk I started telling him about how much my daughter and I liked the birds, especially bluebirds, and how she liked to peak in the boxes and see the eggs – I then mentioned something about the American Bluebird Society, and maybe something about how bluebirds need our help, all of this while my daughter was looking up at him with her innocent little smile. Well, after laying it on as thick as I could and taking advantage of my daughter’s cuteness, he was practically begging us to put up the boxes, and not just one or two, but as many as we wanted!! Wow, that was easier than I thought. Hey, whatever works, right? That afternoon we put up one box (w/predator baffle) on his land. I plan to put up another one soon. Now on to the neighbors across the street – LOL!!

Here are a couple pics of my bluebirds I took last weekend: