eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Of all the respondents with the correct answer (“Shoplifters of Sunflower Seeds”), Teresa's name was drawn as the final winner... Congrats Teresa! (Be on the look out for an email from us confirming your shipping information.)

Thank you all for participating...

Be sure to keep a sharp eye on this blog... Another contest is right around the corner!

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Quick post for you guys...

The Flickr site has been updated to include a new "Feathers" set, complete with a bunch of macro shots of a stray crow's feather. (Amazing what an 8 MP camera the size of a deck of playing cards can do.) Anyway... Take a look and be patient... These are large, hi-res files. Feel free to blow them up. Remarkable stuff really.

Switching gears... Hey! Hey! Hey! Contest 3 is almost over! What are you waiting for?!? 11:59 PM EST, June 30th, 2007 the party's over... Come on! Don't be like this lonely old sparrow singing the blues....



Why not enter the contest before it's too late?

Gotta go... See you by those feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After reading this, make sure you read part II also.

The other day my 7 year-old son informed me that we had a snapping turtle in our window well – again!



It had happened a few years ago and we bought a cover for the window well. (see the window well in the background) I guess we should have purchased covers for all of our window wells.

What made this situation unique is that “Chippy” was down in the window well with this rather large snapping turtle. Yeoww! Needless to say, the little chipmunk seemed a bit nervous.



During this time of the year in our north western part of Minnesota, snapping turtles trudge out of the lakes and ponds and search for a suitable place to dig a hole and then lay their eggs. OK, maybe suitable is a dubious term. I’ve seen them lay their eggs on gravel roads and even on the top of a fresh load of black dirt delivered for our new landscaping project. When I saw this turtle in our window well, my only thought was, “Buddy, when your reached your leg out and couldn’t feel the ground underneath it, why did you keep pushing forward?”

After viewing our unplanned terrarium of co-mingled species, we placed a decent-sized stick into the window well so Chippy could climb out. After some time he did without ever having to encounter the wrath of the turtle.




FREE!

After the chipmunk was freed I wrangled the turtle out of the 5-foot deep window well. The best part is that I made a movie of the adventure with my boys.

Stay tuned to this blog.

Signed, Gordon - aka Snapping Turtle Wrangler PS - Below is another nervous fellow, but my guess is that the turtle never knew he or she was there! :)

PSS - After reading this, make sure you read part II also.

Posted by Gordon at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We've got a busy one here today folks... We need to take a good look at a feather off the right wing of a crow. (In doing so, we also need to revisit Gerry's questions about cameras.)

But before all that... Don't forget that the contest is winding down!!!

Now then, let's start with a continuation of Gerry's question about optimizing photos for the Web... There is one tiny little issue I failed to mention... Namely the camera lens! (Ok, so I'm an idiot... We all know that by now.) Here's the skinny... Small lenses work well at short distances (or focal lengths). Large lenses are happier at longer distances. (Just think of the lens of a microscope vs. that of a telescope.) The pictures you're about to see were shot with the Vivitar Vivicam 8600s - an 8MP (Megapixel) camera with a small lens. Our Olympus 2100 with a large lens just can't compete when it comes to making close-up macro photos like these. However, when it comes to distance shots, the lowly 2.1 MP Olympus rules the day! Moral of the story? Different lenses for different jobs.

Onward...

Below is a typical feather weighted down by two quarters. (Whether you live in the city, or in the country, you probably pass by a feather or two every day... So they're not all that uncommon.)

Alrighty then... What's in a feather? Well... It turns out that there's a lot in a feather... (Did I hear a yawn?!? Just wait...) Anyway, let's take a look at a typical feather... The parts are as follows... (Now you know why I don't have an MFA degree.)



1 Rachis: The central spine of the feather.

2 Calamus: Base of the hollow quill.

3 Outer Vane: The small leading edge of the feather.

4 Inner Vane: The largest portion of the feather... It trails behind the outer vane and is attached to the rachis.

5 Barb: The individual "strands" that come off the quill.

6 Afterfeather: The downy fluff near the calamus.

Man oh man, that's hot stuff! (I was going to make a "Viagra-truck-crash-in-Las-Vegas" joke here - but I knew my boss would take an extremely dim view of the gaff.)

Onward yet again... Let's look at the parts above... We'll cover the first three in this post, and the last three in the next.

• First up... The rachis or quill... More boring than a clutch of librarians holding a door-knob convention in a flour factory, right? Not so fast bucko! Take a gander at the photo below... Things get a little more interesting when you get up close and personal!
  
  
  
  But that's not the truly interesting part... Check out the rachis on the underside of the wing.
  
  
  
  That last photo ain't chump change. In fact, for an engineer, it's stunning. It's not an "I-Beam", but it serves the same type of function. I'm going to have a buddy of mine who's a mechanical engineer look at this one.
• Next is the calamus or base of the rachis... Hmmm... The image below is roughly the size of a dime. Small wonder that quills were used as pens.
  
  
  
  
• Finally (for this post anyway), is the outer vane... This is a simply stunning (and wildly symmetrical) collection of "barbs" that radiate from the rachis... It also is the leading edge on an airfoil.
  
  
  
  

If you can, take a look at the colors in the leading edge... It's an amazing array of blacks, purples, yellows, and greens. That's what gives the wing of crows (and their ilk) their phenomenal sheen... Finally, consider the following poem by Gerard Manly Hopkins (written in 1877) when he tried to describe that brilliance... Wow...

The Windhover: To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, — the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.

Time to wrap this one up... Next time, the Inner Vane, the Barb, and the Afterfeather.

CapeCodAlan

Once again, thanks to the following:

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Wikipedia
• Audubon Society
• U.S. Geological Survey
• MSN Encarta
• Winged Wisdom
• The National Audubon Society’s “The Sibley Guide to Birds”
• ”Birds Of North America” published by Golden
• ”Birds of New England” from Smithsonian Handbooks
• Chapman's "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America"
• Peterson's "A Field Guide to the Birds"
• "Birdwatching" from publisher "Discovery Travel Adventures"

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hi all,

In general, now seems to be a good time to meet the ubiquitous House Sparrow, and particularly the lonely little guy below.



First, the standard stuff... This is an adult male House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Sometime around 1850, these fellows were introduced to the States via New York City from Europe, and spread like wildfire throughout the continental U.S. and beyond... They are noisy, combative, and don't mind taking other birds nests. Only the male wears a black throat, and only a male in the "breeding mode" owns a black throat combined with a black bib on his chest.

And that leads us to that special little pup above... He sits for hours every day on top of his birdhouse trying to entice a female. As the photo shows, he puffs himself up, but to no avail... He sings constantly, and engages in a weird little "hopping dance", but to no avail. This has been going on for weeks now, and he must be getting tired. Any night now, the wife and I are expecting to hear Tom Waits music straining out of his abode, and the next morning there will no doubt be a tiny pile of tiny beer cans at the base of his digs... We're talking one sad bird here!

Anyway... That's the way it looks right now... I'll keep you posted if conditions change...

See you at closing time by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Remember, there's a free contest afoot!

Thanks to the following:

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Wikipedia
• Audubon Society
• U.S. Geological Survey
• MSN Encarta
• The National Audubon Society’s “The Sibley Guide to Birds”
• ”Birds Of North America” published by Golden
• ”Birds of New England” from Smithsonian Handbooks
• Chapman's "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America"
• Peterson's "A Field Guide to the Birds"
• "Birdwatching" from publisher "Discovery Travel Adventures"

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greetings sisters and brothers! Welcome almost back to the psychedelic '60s...

Hey! Have you entered the fab contest yet?

Truckin' onward... The "Dead" was/were right... What a long strange trip it's been! But if you think life was crazy back in '67, man that ain't nothin' compared with '07... The cost of gasoline keeps bouncing over the $3.00/gallon mark. A haircut (not that I ever get one) costs $20. And a decent tie-dyed t-shirt costs fifty bucks! I'm telling you that "The System" is sticking it to us...

But there is an exception... There's this company that let's you order birdseed over the Internet, and they pay for the shipping. Cool! But here's the deal man... (Umm... Wait a second... I've got my wristwatch caught in my headband and my hair... Ow... Ow... Ok... That's better...) So anyway, the deal is that the more you order, the cheaper it gets. And that's just hip for those fat-cat, military-industrial czars hanging out at Area 51. But what about us regular folk who weave goats'-hair pot holders and decorate used-tire sandals? What's a hippy to do? I'll tell you what to do cats! Buy in bulk, and then use one of those kitchen appliances to vacuum pack the rest of it in appropriately-sized bags. Dig the pic below!



The vacuum machine company says that when you vacuum pack stuff like seeds, they'll last a year or more stored in the pantry. (Just don't let the rodents near 'em!)

Oh wow! Power to the people! Right on! We get to order in bulk just like "The Man"! So how much scratch will you actually save? Let me lay an example on you...

Suppose you're used to buying the "Sunflower Hearts & Chips" by the 20lb bag... Right now that will run you $40.70. When you snag 3 bags over time, you'll have let loose $122.10... Ok, ok... Now let's not have a revolution here! Cool product, cool service, cool delivery right to your door. Fair enough for this hippy. But, suppose that you think like "The Establishment" and buy in bulk?!? A single 60lb bag of the same seed sells for $98.83... And the difference of $23.27 will buy a lot of incense and maybe even a Ravi Shankar 8-track cassette!

Only one thing left to say… “Om by the feeders…”

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi all,

First things first… Don’t forget our new contest is ongoing, but it ends precisely at 11:59 PM EST, June 30th, 2007.

Back to the usual stuff...

I spent considerable time worrying over the detail of this post... Part of me wanted to just pop this one out... But it just shouldn't work that way...

If you think back to the June 5, 2007 entry (Building a Post), Gerry basically had three questions:

• "I would like to know what setting do you take the photos at?"
• "Specifically, now that Digital Cameras can record at 10 megapixels and up, it makes for better photos... but not for the web since the web has an issue with the larger file sizes that result from higher megapixel settings."
• "I read a lot about "Optimizing" photos for web use. How does that work for this blog?"

I sort of stumbled around the first two questions and left the last for this post. (There's a very good reason for this... The real explanation for "optimizing" photos is fairly technical. If you're not "into" the technical, the rest of this post will probably bore you.) With that, here's the deal with photography (especially digital) and the Web...

As I see it, there are four definitions/considerations that get all jumbled. They are:

• Pixels/Pixels Per Inch (PPI): The word "pixels" stands for the phrase "picture elements". In fact, a pixel is more than just a finite element - it's more an equation than a fixed quantity. Probably the best way to look at pixels is to look at their source - typically a digital camera or a scanner. (For the sake of this post, I'll "focus" on cameras, and particularly the NovaBird.) When you take a picture with a camera, the analog image passes through the lens, through the image sensor, then is exposed to a CCD or CMOS matrix, which completes its journey from the real world of analog to the digital world of pixels. The size of the matrix determines the size of the shot in pixels. Depending on the number of bits used to describe the pixel further controls the size of the final image in the camera. In the case of the NovaBird, the raw image is 2,048 x 1,536 = apx. 3 million pixels (a.k.a. 3 megapixels).
  
  And if only the discussion were to end there, this issue just might appeal to common sense. But it doesn't end there. In fact, the confusion is just beginning.
  
  The number of computer bits (8 bits make up one byte) used to describe a pixel varies, but I'll use the 24 bit standard... That means that each pixel is described by 3 bytes, and that a 3 megapixel photo is in fact around 10 megabytes (MB) in size. (Ever wonder why bmp files are so big?) Unfortunately, 10 megabytes is big... Real big. (To put that in perspective, we use a 256 MB SD RAM card in the Nova', and if we tried to store 10 MB files, the camera would only hold about 25 pics.) Uh oh... So here's the deal... The camera automatically compresses the raw image into an efficient format (*.jpg) that will occupy only 0.5 MB - that way the SD card can hold around 500 images. (If you want to know more about data compression, just use the "comment" button below.) Can you see the water starting to muddy?
  
  Now we have a 0.5MB jpg file which holds 10MB of image information which is 2,048 pixels wide, and we want to cast it upon a monitor/video card/video driver that supports a max of 1,600 pixels side to side (PPI). Oh goody. Needless to say that programs like Microsoft Office Picture Manager play some cute mathematical games when it comes to making a single image "fit" the screens of a Mac, a PC, a laptop, all at the same time...
  
  Yes, the water gets muddier still. Onward.
  
  
• Human eye: So what is acceptable for decent graphic presentation on a computer (let alone Web optimization, as Gerry asked)? Well the average human eye can discern the slightest color change in roughly 300 PPI (or 1" of display showing a gradient of 300 slightly different pixels).
• Computer Monitor: This is where the fun goes goofy. For computer screens, the typical pixel sizes are apx. 0.4mm (0.016") square... The really bad news is that computer screens usually have a max resolution of 90 PPI. (Classically, Macs are 72, and PCs are 96 PPI). Doubt it? Check out the duplicate picture(s) below.
  
  The photo on the left was saved at a resolution of 72 "DPI" vs. the picture on the right that was saved at 250 "DPI". (See the next item for a rant on "DPI".) See any difference? Nope. They're pretty much identical. That's because today's PC monitors adjust everything to ~ 96 PPI.
• Printers (DPI): As if all this wasn't confusing enough, the measure of "Dots Per Inch" (DPI) gets thrown into the mix, and is confused with PPI. Let's get this clear... PPI is the land of cameras, scanners, and monitors. DPI resides in "Printer World". Contrary to what the kid down at the Big Box Appliance and Computer store tells you, PPI does not equal DPI. DPI is a measure of the number of dots of ink a printer can lay down to create a certain image resolution. And the higher the original PPI, the more the picture can be expanded and printed on a printer with a fixed DPI. (Ever wonder why some pictures can be blown up and printed while others just look like crud? Now you know.)

So Gerry (if you're still awake), the way that pictures are "optimized" for the Web is a process of taking the picture at a reasonable resolution (PPI), sizing and "enhancing" it to adjust the brightness, colors, sharpness, etc., to match the original subject, and then saving it at a resolution matching that of the destination monitor. Typically that would be 96 PPI.

Do I do that? Naw! I try to work at 250 PPI. Why? Because the image sizes that we work with are 300 - 400 pixels max on a side. The eBirdseed server can handle the load. True, they're higher resolution, and that won't be at all different on your screen right now... But just wait... HD monitors are coming, and when they arrive, this blog will be waiting with open arms. Also every picture in the New England Bird Picture Library is roughly 250 PPI, which means that folks can download those pictures (for free), and use them without fear of early "pixelization". How's that for a value-added blog?

I'll be leaning on the tripod over by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. And just how good are pictures saved at such high resolutions? Take a look, but be patient.

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Welcome to contest number three! Be forewarned that this one might just take some work and/or guile on your part. Here we go...

First things first... What might you win???

How about a mealworm feeder?!?



Not so shabby! So how does the contest work?

In previous posts, the wife and I have mentioned that we enjoy our squirrels. On several occasions I've even mentioned them in detail. So here's your task... In a particular paragraph in a particular post, I referred to squirrels as, "Thieves of Thistle”, “Usurpers of Suet”, and one other four-word alliterative phrase. The first step (and the only step you need to take) in winning this contest is to find that exact last alliterative phrase and add it as a comment into this post. (Your entry can be with or without quotes, but typos aren't acceptable!) We expect more than one correct answer, so the second, (and final step) involves a random draw here at eBirdseed.com of all the correct answers to determine the final winner.

Every entrant should read the following very carefully... For obvious reasons, we're not going to post the text of correct or incorrect comments/entries. That way everyone has to do his or her own legwork. The standard rules apply:

• Only rated “G” comments/entries are allowed.
• Multiple entries are allowed, but each entry must be in its own individual comment and only the latest comment will be considered as the entrant's formal entry.
• Entries made by eBirdseed employees and/or their families are void.
• All decisions made by the judges at eBirdseed.com are final.
• The contest starts as soon as this post goes live. (That is, if you’re reading this, the contest has begun!)
• This contest ends precisely at 11:59 PM EST, June 30th, 2007.
• As always, eBirdseed will pay for the shipping* of the winning prize to anywhere in the continental U.S.

So that's it gang... Do your research, and be precise with your final answer(s).

See you by the feeders and good luck,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (1)

One of the comments we got from the Free Canned Mealworms post was from Joni, who asked about the appropriate location and feeder type for mealworms. Good question! For the answer, see Mealworm Care.

This is one of those times that I have to "'fess up". The boss has sent me several cans of the mealworms, and I've always just sort of "dumped" them out in the regular feeder, knowing that the crows (probably tied with the Red-wing Blackbird as my favorite bird) would simply inhale them. I was right... Once the crows figured out where the mealworms were, I didn't even have time to set up for a decent photo.



Hmmm...

To borrow from the great "Beave", "But jeez Wally, wouldn't it be a swell idea to maybe have a contest that offered a feeder or somethin' for mealworms?"

Tune in very soon for that next contest right beside the feeders!

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mealworm Giveaway Update: Only 3 cans left... Ummm... Now there're only 2 cans left... Better hurry!

On the June 6th post of this year (Building a Post), Gerry entered a very interesting comment. In it, he asked the following.

"...I would like to know what setting do you take the photos at? Specifically, now that Digital Cameras can record at 10 megapixels and up, it makes for better photos... but not for the web since the web has an issue with the larger file sizes that result from higher megapixel settings. I read a lot about "Optimizing" photos for web use. How does that work for this blog..."

I'll take these questions/issues one at a time as best I can...

1. "I would like to know what setting do you take the photos at?" Believe it or not, probably 95% of the photos taken by the old Olympus 2100 are shot using either the default automatic mode or in the macro mode. When the camera wants to cooperate, the results can be stunning.
   
   
   
   
2. "Specifically, now that Digital Cameras can record at 10 megapixels and up, it makes for better photos... but not for the web since the web has an issue with the larger file sizes that result from higher megapixel settings." Whew... Tough point. As I understand it, a high resolution picture (e.g. 1,600 x 1,200 pixels, originally shot by the 3.0 megapixel automatic camera) can be cropped and "shrunk" to 400 x 354 (like the one below) with no loss of quality.
   
   
   
   
   
   However, the opposite is not true - a low-res picture becomes "pixilated" or digitally blurred when it is expanded to a large size. By way of analogy, you can take a quality, poster-sized photo and shrink it down to a postage-stamp-sized object. But you can't blow a newspaper comic up to the size of a poster - the visual information simply isn't intrinsic to the comic. So, while it's quite true that we really have to resize photos to speed up the Web site page download, we also needed to find a way for the public to openly access our entire photo library in all its sizable glory. That's why we stored almost all our pictures (1,241 photos and climbing) on the photo collection site Flickr. And what's just as important is that each photo is available in a variety of sizes including the typically large original. You can view and use those pictures free of charge by accessing our CapeCodAlan Flickr sets site.
   
   
   
   
3. "I read a lot about "Optimizing" photos for web use. How does that work for this blog?" Now this last question deserves a post of its own, because it begs some other questions. We'll have to save this one for the next entry...

But before I go, here's a rather nice shot of an oriole, (they do love that grape jelly!)...



Stay tuned by those feeders, and keep a sharp eye peeled for the next contest!

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

How do I introduce this offer and this post?

Deep breath... Here goes...

John Belushi knew it in "Animal House". Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin knew it on SNL. Willie Nelson wrote about and Patsy Cline sang about it back in 1961. That's right... We're talking about "crazy". And now it's eBirdseed.com's chance to do something crazy.

We want to give you canned mealworms!

Ah geez, that sounds a little too crazy! More accurately, we want to give you canned mealworms for your birds.



The simple fact is that bluebirds, blackbirds, blue jays, crows, and a bunch of other birds are crazy for mealworms. And here's how you can get some free. We have a total of eight cans of the critters (above) available. We'll send you a can of mealworms if your non-spam comment is one of the first eight that we receive for this post. (As always, we'll pay for the shipping in the continental U.S. - this is a totally free giveaway.) In fact, you can even submit a max of two comments, and we'll ship you two cans. And if that wasn't loony enough, we've got a nice (single) seed scoop to trade for a comment. (The first person who asks for the scoop in the comment gets the scoop.) But you need to act quickly... Those 9 items aren't going to last forever!

See you by those zany feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 5:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Let's start this one with a beautiful shot of a tulip for dad!

Ok, I've done my duty. Now I'm going to speak the unspeakable in these politically-correct times - I'm going to speak the truth, and I'm even going to admit that we're trying to sell you something... Here we go... First the raw truth:

In general, guys do NOT want the following for Father's Day:

• Ties, socks, sweaters, slippers, or clothing of any type. ("Earth to significant others! Earth to significant others! When it comes to guys, presents are fun and not worn!")
• Battery-powered, flapping fish that are mounted on plaques
• Books or magazines (Exceptions being text/pictures that involve boats, cars, planes, and... Well... You get the idea.)
• Flowers
• Aftershave

In fact, typically, what guys do want will fall into three categories:

• Those gifts that are hopelessly cool
• Those gifts that are fun beyond words
• Those gifts that are convenient

For all you significant others and offspring out there... You can handle the first two departments, but I'm going to address the latter. (This is where the sales comes in.) Convenience means a lot to a guy. Let me break it down for you using the classic scenario...

It's 4:45pm, Friday afternoon. The work week has been a monster. Bill uses the washroom and (looking in the mirror at his receding hairline) can't help but notice that 10, 20, 30, 40, or more years have gotten between him and his 22nd birthday. At 4:59pm, he's ready to leave when his phone rings. Bill thinks, "Please let it be the officials at the 'Million Dollar/Secret Island Paradise Giveaway Contest'" telling him that he's won the grand prize. It isn't. Instead it's a call to remind him that he needs to stop at the "Local Big Box Wholesale Outlet" to pick up a bag of birdseed. If he wasn't so tired, he'd think, "Oh goody! Expletive! Expletive! Expletive!" But instead, he numbly fights traffic, wanders into the cavernous, labyrinthical membership club and finally stumbles upon the pallet of birdseed. (Who knows what he's buying, how old it is, and who cares... Bill is running on fumes!) And those 50lb bags just sit there staring up at him... Goading him... Making fun of his hairline... But hey! Bill is a champ...He can manhandle one of those bags into submission! Right? Thirty minutes and 5 torn back muscles later, Bill gets into his car and heads for home. Once there, conditions improve when he only tears another three back muscles removing the seed from the trunk of the car. (Who knew that Bill could "out spasm" John Belushi imitating Joe Cocker?) Anyway, once he get's the seed on the ground, he can at least drag it to its storage bin, and then go eat pie. But that ain't gonna happen because Bill has contorted into "Bedroom-Bound Ibuprofen Bill Ready for a Backboard".

Alright... All joking aside, the story above ain't that far off the mark. Buying and transporting birdseed can be a haphazard, rip-snorting pain in the tail section, and we all know it... It is what it is. An eBirdseed.com subscription offers convenient access to a good product with free shipping and great support... Plain and simple... And speaking as a guy who spent years of his youth lugging cracked corn (in 100lb bags no less) to keep our chickens happy, I can tell you in absolutely no uncertain terms that human males (and females for that matter) would consider an eBirdseed.com subscription a wonderful gift. Like I said... It is what it is.

CapeCodAlan

P.S. "Cool and fun" presents include Special Edition Erector Sets and MP3 players.

P.P.S. Rumor has it that another contest is lurking!

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

It's interesting... Probably the most common question I get from friends and relatives concerning this blog has nothing to do with birds whatsoever. Instead, people want to know how we put these posts together... What are the mechanics of writing a post for a blog? Ok... Fair enough... You asked, I'll answer... Here's how it works...

1. Typically, we first choose subject matter... We might take some pictures, or there might be a news item, or maybe another blog will raise an issue... Whatever...
2. When pictures are used (and they almost always are), they have to be downloaded from one of the cameras (or both) to the computer via a USB cable. Today, we downloaded almost 400 pictures. Of those, roughly 100 were "keepers", and of those 100, probably 5 were stunning... (including the crow shot below).
   
   
   
   
3. All quality pics have to be loaded up into our New England Bird Picture Library site.
4. After that, I write the basic article (in Microsoft Notepad of all things)... Using Notepad, we can be assured of entering only stripped-down ANSI characters that will seamlessly translate into HTML.
5. Next, the HTML code itself is entered into the document where appropriate. (A superb HTML tutorial may be found at http://www.jmarshall.com/easy/html/.)
6. Following the "happy, happy, joy, joy" of entering HTML tags comes the issue of picture quality... The photos usually have to be enhanced (for color brightness, balance, tone, etc., etc., etc.) Programs like Adobe's Photoshop and ArcSoft's PhotoStudio fill the bill nicely.
7. Picture size typically needs to be adjusted. We try to shoot for a max dimension of 300 pixels on a side, though sometimes the subject matter demands as much as 400. The programs mentioned above work quite well for this task too, but even Microsoft Paint will do in a pinch.
8. Next, the pictures are uploaded onto the eBirdseed server, and their Internet addresses are noted within the "post to be" in Notepad.
   
   So that's the basic process for creating the post. But that's when the fun starts.
   
   
9. The Notepad piece is saved as a ".txt" file, and then copied into the Movable Type publishing platform for the eBirdseed blog. However, it is entered in an "unpublished" state rendering it invisible to you, the reader.
10. Using a "preview" mode, I can look at the entire entry as it will appear to the viewership. That preview is then copied into Microsoft Word.
11. The post is then spell checked from stem to stern. Whenever a mistake is uncovered, it is fixed both in Notepad and in Word, and the corrected Notepad article is saved immediately.
12. Once the spelling and grammatical issues have been quelled, the matter of "readability" is tackled. (With luck, "reads" and "rereads" uncover redundancy, abruptness, transition, etc., etc., etc.)
13. Almost finally, the work is fed into a text-to-speech synthesizer (I use NaturalReader) in Word. That way I get to listen to the whole enchilada in another "person's" voice.
14. Almost, almost finally, the wife looks over the article, and sees if she can find a dent.
15. With all systems "Go!", I wipe out what's in the Movable Type program, replace it with the latest version of the post in Notepad, save it, and change its status to "published".
16. After that, still more rereads continue. It's not unusual for the wife and I to read the same article 10 or 20 times or more.

And how long does this process take? Anywhere from 90 minutes to 10 hours, though the typical time frame is four hours.

And that's the way it is... See you by the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 5:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Summer is here... And so are the Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula)... Stunning creatures, really.



Some interesting facts about the Baltimore Oriole...

• Ours just showed up a few weeks ago - early to mid May.
• They like grape jelly, but don't have a taste for jam. (At least ours don't!)
• Orioles are gregarious fellows, especially around the feeders.
• They have umpteen cousins (the Altamira Oriole, Hooded Oriole, Audubon's Oriole, and Scott's Oriole) who live in Mexico and Central America. To boot, they're related to the Bullock's Oriole, the Orchard Oriole, and the Spot-breasted Oriole.
• These birds build (or weave) funky, hanging-basket nests.

So break out that grape jelly, and cut up those oranges... Summer is here, and so are the orioles!

See you by those brilliant feeders,

CapeCodAlan

And once again, thanks to the following:

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Wikipedia
• Audubon Society
• U.S. Geological Survey
• MSN Encarta
• The National Audubon Society’s “The Sibley Guide to Birds”
• ”Birds Of North America” published by Golden
• ”Birds of New England” from Smithsonian Handbooks
• Chapman's "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America"
• Peterson's "A Field Guide to the Birds"
• "Birdwatching" from publisher "Discovery Travel Adventures"

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)