Archive for May, 2008

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Great Hummingbird Shots

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

I was really blown away when I saw the quality of the hummingbird shots people were getting today. Especially when the feeders are moving around in the wind, it can be really challenging to get a zoomed-in shot that is in sharp focus.

Here’s a shot of a male that vireo got:

Here’s a female by avatar99:

And another shot of a female by rafa:

I entered an ID of Ruby-throated Hummingbird on these, though I’m not very confident of that ID; going just by the images these could easily be Black-chinned. I’m really curious if we can get more information about when and in what numbers the two species occur at Welder.

No problems on IDing these next two shots, both by vireo: They’re Buff-bellied all the way. Gorgeous!

Posted in Breeding-Range Changes, Favorite Shots, The Birds | 1 Comment »

Golden-fronted Woodpecker?

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

At 9:37 a.m. today txbird got this really exciting shot of a woodpecker:

txbird pointed out that a Golden-fronted Woodpecker makes the most sense in terms of the range maps in Sibley. Going just by the image it could be a Red-bellied Woodpecker, too, but overall I think Golden-fronted is a good call. So far the image is officially “unclassified”; we’ll see if it gets enough IDs to be officially added as a species in the game. And I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that tree, and on the suet feeders, for future appearances. Congratulations, txbird, on a great shot!

Posted in Records and Rarities, The Birds | No Comments »

Odd Jay Behavior

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

I was off the camera most of the day, but there were some great shots taken. Some of the most interesting were a sequence of ten shots of a Green Jay taken just before 2:00 p.m. (Pacific time, which apparently is the time displayed in the game, even though the camera itself is in the Central time zone).

The photos were taken by annelizabeth, eric, vanilla, and birdbrain. I’ve stitched them together into an animation to try to get a better sense of what it must have looked like to watch it live on the camera, though it’s (obviously) kind of clunky. Here it is:

Various theories have been offered for what this jay is doing. Some speculated that it might be ill. For myself, I think I’m inclined to think it was some sort of sunbathing behavior. Like anting, maybe? A means to deal with parasites? I really don’t know. But it’s very interesting to look at.

Posted in The Birds | 2 Comments »

Texas Avian All-Stars!

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Wow. I know it took a little extra time to get here, but the new system was really worth the wait, wouldn’t you say?

One of the first surprises I got was this jaunty little fella (along with his mate, sometimes) hanging out on the suet feeder in front of the pond:

That shot was by birderbf, taken April 30. A Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a pretty exciting bird for me; growing up outside their normal range, I always thought they looked neat in the field guide, but never got to see one.

I practically fell out of my chair when I saw this Wild Turkey strutting around:

That’s a shot I got April 29; I also really liked this action shot taken by vanilla the same day:

A bird that had me mystified during the alpha test was this guy, though after some help from the other users I’m pretty comfortable calling it a Bronzed Cowbird (this shot was by achadamaia on April 30):

But the hands-down most exciting bird (for me at least) since CONE Welder went live is this Barred Owl. vanilla and kryptonkay each got a shot of it late last night; this is the shot taken by vanilla:

All in all, I’d say it’s been a pretty smashing first couple of days. I can’t wait to see what comes next. See you on the birdcam!

Posted in Favorite Shots, Records and Rarities, The Birds | 1 Comment »

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