eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Boo!

Happy Halloween all,

First things first...

Here's yet another reminder... The tragedy on the west coast hasn't gone away simply because it's no longer in the media... Learn more here. Once again, note how the numbers have changed for the worse... 16 dead, 85 hurt, and 2,800 uninsured or underinsured homes and businesses that don't just rebuild themselves...

Onward...

Thought we might take a quick look at the ubiquitous "Little Brown Bat" (Myotis lucifugus and aka "LBB").

The above is a public domain image from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The photographer is Don Pfitzer.

As you probably know, bats aren't birds. Birds belong to the Aves class, whereas bats (including the Little Brown Bat) belong to the Mammalia class. As the class name implies, LBBs are mammals, and unlike birds they are born live, (not hatched), have hair, and have sweat glands, (including those used to produce milk). Stuff you might not know about these little suckers, (sorry... couldn't resist the pun):

• They are common around the world
• For those of you in the New England area, LBB brethren include:
  • Eastern Small-footed Bat, (Myotis leibii)
  • Northern Long-eared Bat, (Myotis septentrionalis)
  • Indiana Bat, (Myotis sodalis)
  • Silver-haired Bat, (Lasionycteris noctivagans)
  • Eastern Pipistrelle, (Perimyotis subflavus)
  • Big Brown Bat, (Eptesicus fuscus)
  • Eastern Red Bat, (Lasiurus borealis)
  • Hoary Bat, (Lasiurus cinereus)
• Little brown bats can live 30 years or more
• They can see quite well, (though they still do use echolocation)
• During winter, LBBs both migrate to warmer areas and hibernate, (during hibernation the typical bat will reduce its heart rate from 200 beats per minute to 20)
• On a good night, a typical bat can eat 250 bugs (mosquitoes, moths, beetles, etc.) within 15 minutes
• LBB colonies can range in size up to a maximum of 1,000
• Because a single colony of little brown bats can devour 250,000 bugs in a single feast, farmers are increasingly using them for pest control
• And no, they don't get tangled in people's hair

See you by those "boo-tiful" feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Below is a list of the resources I used for this post (and others).

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- This is the "Big Daddy" of the birding sites. And its complexity reflects that of its subject matter. It's well worth spending a few hours roaming around this project.
• Wikipedia -- From "hum" to "hummingbird", Wikipedia has got you covered...
• Audubon Society -- For me, this site is good, but could be better. Its "About Birds" takes the reader from plates depicting the digestive tracts of birds, to the birds themselves... My bottom line is that I just don't find the interface that intuitive.
• U.S. Geological Survey -- The USGS entry is good, but suffers from the same sort of convoluted interface as the Audubon site... There's a wealth of information in there, but you'll need to dig for it.
• MSN Encarta -- Good old Microsoft Encarta... This is a nice "general use" resource.
• The National Audubon Society’s “The Sibley Guide to Birds” -- When it comes to bird books, this is (in my opinion) the Holy Grail. The binding, color drawings, scope, detail... It's all great. This book sells for around $35, and belongs in every person's library whether or not she or he is a birder. Hats off to David Allen Sibley.
• Peterson's "A Field Guide to the Birds" -- Before Sibley, there was Roger Tory Peterson... And, his work too is a masterstroke. I've got the 1947 edition of his book... It's old and it's tired, but still a "must own" regardless of the year.
• ”Birds of New England” from Smithsonian Handbooks -- Fred J. Alsop III and the Smithsonian have really done a superb job of documenting and illustrating the birds of the northeast.
• Chapman's "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America" -- This is a more scholarly text complete with black and white illustrations.
• ”Birds Of North America” published by Golden -- A smaller book, this works well as a good field guide.

Also, the following two, "more coffee-table" books deserve mention...

• "Birdwatching" from publisher "Discovery Travel Adventures".
• Ortho Books' "How to Attract Birds".

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

Hi,

Here's yet another reminder... You can act to diminish the suffering on the west coast... Learn more here. (Keep in mind how the numbers have changed... As of Sunday, October 28, 2007, the California State Office of Emergency Services declared that 2,767 structures had been destroyed, and that another seven fires were still not completely contained. ("California fire survivors give thanks")

Onward... As the title suggests, this post is going to be a sort of smorgasbord of thoughts...

• Folks, as we approach Halloween, this is a good time to remember that there are some pretty cruel, twisted people out there. (More mutilated cats discovered in San Antonio area) Especially disconcerting are the number of young people involved in this sort of thing. Keep in mind that the three warning signs of deeply troubled (and all too often dangerous) children, teens, and young adults are pyromania, enuresis (bedwetting), and animal cruelty. The simple fact is that if you should know of a person or group that engages in the repugnant behavior of animal cruelty, report him (or them) to the police immediately. Never forget that serial killers John Wayne Gacy, Robert Ramirez (the Night Stalker), David Berkowitz (the Son of Sam), Jeffrey Dahmer, and countless others started tormenting and killing animals before "moving on" to humans. Regardless of your feelings concerning cats or dogs or birds or whatever, we all have a vested interest in stopping this barbarism.
• On a much more upbeat subject, the Boston Red Sox are once again world champs. Way to go Boston! (Just wait for the Yankees to rebuild, and the world will be right once again.)
• And Hurray! Otis the owl is back!
  
  
  
  
• We finally got our gas fireplace insert installed. Quite warm...
  
  
  
  
• For you non-sports fans... The Patriots vs. the Colts game next weekend bears watching regardless. These are two exceptional teams being led by two of the best quarterbacks ever. This possibly will be a game the world will be talking about for decades to come.
• Who says late October is too late for a decent flower shot? Check out our mandevilla...
  
  
  
  

Well, that should do ya for a couple of days...

See you on Halloween lurking behind the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

Well, this post is going to be short on words... In just a bit, I'll let a few images do the real talking.

But first, understand that you can act to alleviate some of the suffering on the west coast... Learn more here. (Note how the numbers have changed and how the tragedy has grown.)

The following photos are from our contributor Kathryn, a photographer and South California resident. The fires forced her evacuation and she just returned on the 27th. Thankfully, air drops and back fires saved her home... Still...


A neighbor's melted feeder


A house finch


House sparrow



There's a lot of work to be done on all fronts...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hi,

The photo above (S. California, October, 2007) pretty much says it all... (Thanks go out to the folks at nowpublic.com for this public domain photo.)

Obviously, we've got a lot to deal with, so let's dig right in...

The last few days have been tragic to say the least. Here's just one "on the scene" insight...

Anissa writes... "The Santa Ana winds blew heavily on Sunday. We had just filled and hung the birdfeeders that day, but as the fires and smoke grew worse, we saw a sharp decrease in birds at our feeder. For instance, usually our goldfinch feeder is covered over in American and Lesser Goldfinches, but on Monday and Tuesday I saw no goldfinches. Maybe one or two House Finches showed up and the hummingbirds continued to visit, but overall the silence was eerie. I didn't even hear the normal caws of crows. We had a visit from a hopeful Cooper's Hawk, but he seemed to be out of luck finding songbirds also. Also, the hawk kept holding up one talon. I'm not sure if he had injured or burned himself. Sometimes he held up the left and sometims the right, behavior I've not observed in the Cooper's Hawk before.

Today, some birds have returned. White-crowned Sparrows, Mourning Doves, the normal finches. I still haven't seen or heard the crows.

As for other wildlife, I heard about a deer running out of the smoke and fire into roads and getting hit by a car, I'm sorry to say."

So what can we do?

• Well first, eBirdseed.com is donating 15% of all purchases to the American Red Cross until Thanksgiving, November 22nd. And the giving process is extremely simple... During checkout, simply enter code PROJECTPHOENIX in the Donation Code box. (all capitals, no spaces). This will 'flag' the order so we can determine the amount of the total donation.
  
  You are welcome to share this code with whomever you like. Please tell all of your friends and family as we would like to contribute as much as possible.
  
  
• If you don't need birdseed, simply go to Red Cross.org and make a donation directly.
  
  And there are other ways that you can help...
  
  
• You can donate to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and/or The Humane Society of the United States.
• Finally, don't be fooled into thinking that all "non-profit" organizations are the same. Check out Charity Navigator and donate carefully.

With this slight effort, your bird feeding hobby and thoughtful kindness can benefit those affected by these terrible fires.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hi,

Well, I guess we need to discuss this... The media is crawling with stories of bird flu, and all sorts of other nasty medical conditions. Here's the skinny, short and sweet.

• Before all else, visit your doctor. Tell her of your concerns regarding issues like bird flu, staph, Lyme Disease, colds, and only you know what else. (Besides... Be honest... You're late getting your prostate, breast, or cholesterol test done aren't you?) Also be sure to take a copy of this to let your physician give it a review.
• After you talk with your doctor... Act! Follow her directions as well as the directions on all medications and treatments.
• That out of the way, let's talk details about problems you might encounter in the backyard.
  • Bird flu: Thankfully, exposure to local birds and feeders in America poses virtually no threat. Still, for the sake of clarification... There are 16 variants of this virus, (the "H5N1" seems to be the strain that's currently posing the greatest risk to humans, (Center for Disease Control). Due to possible feeder contact, after feeding the birds simply wash your hands for 30 seconds using warm water and soap.
  • Staph infections: This is a more realistic threat, though not from your birds. The spread of staph infections is typically due to exposure to the bacteria via other humans. To greatly reduce the threat, simply wash your hands for 30 seconds using warm water and soap after any possible exposure.
  • Lyme disease: Lyme disease is a heavy hitter, and is spread by ticks. If you step out to fill the feeders and later notice that a tick has decided to call your person "home"... Relax... Take a good look at the little bugger. If you can see its head and all 8 legs, simply use tweezers to remove it by grasping its head and pulling gently. What you don't want to do is squeeze its body and in doing so empty the parasites that are in its gut into your bloodstream. But whether you remove the tick or not, save the wee beastie and stop by the local emergency room, fire department, or give your doctor a call promptly... Those folks will put the issue to rest pronto.
  • The common cold: Obviously, this has nothing to do with birds, but while I'm here... Wanna know the cure to the common cold? Here it is in 5 easy steps...
    1. Never sniffle. There's a reason why your body is trying to expel the mucous that it skimmed off the cilia in your lungs and out of your sinuses. And that reason has nothing to do with you sniffling and dragging all that junk back down into your throat.
    2. Any time you use the bathroom, wash your hands for 30 seconds using warm water and soap. (Do you note a theme here?)
    3. Prior to eating or snacking, wash your hands for 30 seconds using warm water and soap. (There's that theme again.)
    4. When you go shopping, (or go to the gym, visit the mall, etc...) Keep an antiseptic mist (below) or towelette at the ready. (Your doctor or pharmacist can help you here.)
       
       
       
       Obviously, common sense goes a long way.
    5. Try to keep your hands away from your face... Just because you pay attention to hygiene doesn't mean that others do.

As I said at the beginning of this... Here's the skinny, short and sweet... Using common sense and cleanliness, feeding the birds is about as safe as safe can get.

See you by those harmless feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alright kiddies, gather 'round the campfire... Ol' Mentor CapeCodAlan is going to lend his years of hard-fought troubleshooting skills to the field of small-scale (cheap) digital photography. The mission was to once and for all make sense of a digital camera whilst practicing capturing the backyard feeder.

• Rule Number One: Make sure that you have permission to mess with the stuff with which you are messing. It's bad enough to foul up something when you're supposed to be tinkering with it. It's entirely another issue when you croak a system that you weren't supposed to be playing with in the first place. Regarding the Vivitar and the feeders, all systems were go. So far, so good.
  
  
• Rule Number Two: Set expectations appropriately. Got that one covered too... Neither I nor you the reader are expecting "lens extraordinaire" from this site, let alone from a cheap little Vivitar 8600s. (The compact camera sells for apx. $100, snags images using 8.1 mega pixels, and has an optical zoom of 6x. You can see the 8600 below, attached to a $1.00 "garage sale" tripod as it is aimed at one of the feeders roughly 30 feet away.)
  
  

  

  
  
  
• Rule Number Three: Be methodical. Make notes concerning the camera settings for every picture taken. In the case of the Vivitar, (or any modern digital) that's a witch's brew of mode dial settings, zooms, and menu options... Well, this is where I kinda dropped the ball. More accurately, I never even really had sight of the ball. As soon as I had the camera set up and the manual open, I went bonkers playing with all the features. Ol' Mentor CapeCodAlan snapped dozens of pictures and completely lost track of what he did to get those pictures. (Though the digital-zoom pics were "memorably ghastly".) Granted, all were not bad, and the two below (the last is an enlargement and shows the grain of the feeder roof) are perfectly respectable for a backyard birder. If only I knew how I got them...

Seriously, here are some suggestions to give some of you novice avian feeder photographers a head start...

• Don't be put off by the need for expensive equipment. A bottom-buck digital camera and your computer are all you really need. You can build from there. Used equipment (like our tripod) is fine.
• Don't rely on digital zoom. Optical zoom is the only way to go.
• RTM. (That's tech jargon for "Read The Manual".)
• Experiment and take careful notes. That's where I messed up. (Now I have to repeat the process and actually keep track of my efforts.)
• Ask questions. Ask me. Ask your neighbors. Ask photography forums and blogs. Ask any of the people on our blogroll. Ask the guy in the camera shop in the mall.
• Practice, and don't get discouraged when things don't turn out well.

As always, humbled by the feeders,

Ol' Mentor CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greetings,

Occasionally, someone will send in a comment that in fact is the basis for a good blog post for all... Kathy sent just such a comment... It and my responses follow:

Hi Mr. and Mrs. CCA: We're new to the Las Vegas, NV area and have finally dug out the old birdfeeder. Now that our hummingbirds have migrated, who could/should we expect to see and what type of birdseed should we stock up on? Also, any way to discourage those pesky Mourning (Morning?) Doves -- or are they pigeons? -- other than siccing the dog on them? (She's actually cornered a couple of them and come away with a few feathers. That doesn't seem to deter them...) Thanks in advance.

Hi Kathy,

Here is the way that I would approach your (or anyone else's similar) situation...

• Now that you're starting to settle into your new digs, consider cleaning your feeder(s) first. (See: Clean Feeders.)
• If you need help mounting mounting them, see "Hanging/Mounting Your New Feeder", parts 1 and 2).
• Alright... With that stuff out of the way, what birds can you expect for a given location (in your case Las Vegas)? Well, to determine that, I used Yahoo's search engine (though Google or Dogpile would no doubt work just as well) and queried on ""Las Vegas" birding" (without the outer quotes). The results of the query were numerous, but two sites (Great Basin Bird Observatory and Wetlands Park) stuck out. From those sites, I'd guess that you can expect the frequent winter birds in your area to include grebes, mourning doves, flickers, kingbirds, wrens, warblers, sparrows, robins, gnatcatchers, etc.
• Ok... So now you have a rough idea of who's going to be at your feeder. But what to feed them? Well, let's take a look at a couple of charts and another post...
  • You've Got the Bird, We've Got the Feed, (part 1 of 2)
  • You've Got the Bird, We've Got the Feed, (part 2 of 2)
  • Suet
• Now what does that tell us? (Remember that you can use this technique and these tools for any of the birds in the continental U.S.) Well, it tells us that you can't go wrong with sunflower hearts and chips. Mourning doves like cracked corn and nyjer. Flickers should like the suet. In general, small billed birds like the wrens, warblers, gnatcatchers, and sparrows enjoy our "Finch Festival".
• But the bigger picture for everyone (not just Kathy in Las Vegas) is that information abounds for the new backyard birder as well as for the transplanted expert. Not only do you have access to me via the "Comment" button on this post (or any other post for that matter), you can also call us at 1-866-324-7373. Beyond eBirdseed.com, there are alternate sources such as: the Internet, your neighbors, local natural resource officers, wild birder clubs, etc.
• As for the mourning doves themselves... Yes, they are a type of pigeon, (they were once known as the "Carolina Pigeon"). But I'd think long and hard before trying to shoo them away. Mourning doves tend to be ground feeders, and they clean up the scatter caused by other birds. (If the mourning doves don't take care of the seed spillage, something else will.)
• Finally, "siccing" a domestic pet on an inconvenient wild animal (like a mourning dove) is just a terrible idea. Beyond the issues of sanitation and health lies something much more subtle. It trains the pet to attack wild animals, and that can be a very bad idea indeed.

Besides... What's wrong with mourning doves? I think they look kinda' cool... (Especially the "leucistics"!)



See you by those properly stocked and hopefully unmolested feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hi gang,

This post is going to be a strange mix of two common themes used in this blog - namely "Weird Bird News" and "Amateur Ornithologist". Let's get started...

We've talked about bird intelligence before, (Birds and Souls, and Bird of the Week: The Crow), but maybe it's time to dig in a little bit. I want to focus on the brain of a crow specifically. (Crows are members of the Corvidae family, and have close relatives such as jays, ravens, and magpies.)

For starters, watch the next video carefully. The crow bends a wire into a hook in order to retrieve food... As far as we know, that makes the crow the first toolmaker (aside from humans) that has the intellectual "horsepower" to invent tools spontaneously in non-wilderness conditions.



(If the window above doesn't work in your browser, look at it directly on YouTube here: Crow making tool.)

And then there's...

So what in the name of Sam Hill is going on here? Well, there are a couple of considerations concerning possible crow intelligence. First, understand that sheer brain size does not equate to intelligence. It is in fact the ratio of the brain mass to the total body mass that offers some IQ indicator. (More accurately, that ratio is referred to the "Encephalization Quotient" or EQ.) Put another way, large animals need large brains to regulate temperature, breathing, control muscles, etc. Unfortunately, as animals get larger, they tend to have disproportionately smaller brains, or lower EQs. In general, the non-aquatic creatures with the best brain to body ration are the higher primates, with humans at the top. But following closely behind (and possibly even in front of the great apes depending on how one measures the EQ) are the corvids and some parrots... Hmmm... And what's the second consideration concerning crow intelligence? Take a look at the crow brain below.



(Original image from: Nova Science Now... Bird Brain).

Note the three large pallium areas in the front of the organ, (the hyperpallium, the mesopallium, and the nidopallium). Think of those puppies as the "crow equivalent" of the prefrontal cortex in humans... The job of "them guys" is to handle complex cognitive stuff, express individuality, and also to orchestrate social behavior. Now... Look at the picture below. Look at the forehead on the crow.

Kinda sizable ain't it? The fact is that not only do crows have a great EQ, they also have a great set of palliums. Say no more!

I'll leave you with this... Crows are bright... Studies indicate that chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans have clearly got winged competition. No doubt about it. But here's the mystery... Why did two radically different brain structures obtain roughly equal capabilities??? The article below is a fabulous read addressing this.

The Mentality of Crows: Convergent Evolution of Intelligence in Corvids and Apes by Nathan J. Emery1 and Nicola S. Clayton

See you by those crafty, social feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hi,

For those of you who follow this blog (or know me), it should come as no great surprise that occasionally a poem or two by Emily Dickinson gets tossed into the mix. (Alright... Stop carping! I admit it... I'm an Emily Dickinson groupie! There... Now are you happy?)

To give you a bit of a background on the woman... Ms. Dickinson was a reclusive, neurotic (and perhaps sometimes psychotic), poetic genius. The quality of her 1,775 mid-19th-century works varied from sappy to superb. Emily wrote at least 30 poems that were astonishing, and at least 3 that could arguably be considered the finest ever penned. Her subjects ran the gamut - from love to death to God to psychosis to humor to... You name it, and E.D. wrote about it. And that absolutely included nature in general, and birds in particular. Here are a couple of my favorites accompanied by pics...

A Bird came down the Walk --
He did not know I saw --
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass --
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass --

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all around --
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought --
He stirred his Velvet Head

Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home --

Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam --
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, plashless as they swim.

The next poem is a tad trickier... But for me, I love the line that reads, "The Hills untied their Bonnets --". It reminds me of flocks of birds taking wing in the morning... Anyway, here it is...

I'll tell you how the Sun rose --
A Ribbon at a time --
The Steeples swam in Amethyst --
The news, like Squirrels, ran --
The Hills untied their Bonnets --
The Bobolinks -- begun --
Then I said softly to myself --
"That must have been the Sun"!
But how he set -- I know not --
There seemed a purple stile
That little Yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while --
Till when they reached the other side,
A Dominie in Gray --
Put gently up the evening Bars --
And led the flock away --


See you by the feeders if Little Cousins don't call me back!

CapeCodAlan

P.S. The complete collection of Emily Dickinson's poems are available on the Project Gutenberg site.

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Hi,

Before we start talking about saving money, Mrs. CapeCodAlan and I have a question for you folks... Below is a picture of a hawk taken in Harwich MA, Oct. 1, 2007... What type of hawk is it? (We think we know, but we'd like your opinions!)



Onward!

Let's see... When last we met we were talking about saving money so that you can afford food for both your birds and yourself. As promised, I'm going to let you in on a few "energy-conservation secrets" from the shadowy world of a retired plumber's helper...

• Actually follow through on government energy conservation tips... Any contractor will tell you that the site I mentioned, (U.S. Department of Energy, Tips on Saving Energy & Money at Home) is going to save you a ton of money.
• Pay for initial consulting to assess your home or apartment's energy efficiency... Ask trusted friends, neighbors, co-workers, clergy, real estate agents, etc. for the name of a reputable home inspector, contractor, or handyman. Don't blink at spending $100 or more at this stage of the game. That $100 can save you thousands down the road.
• Once a problem area has been exposed (for example, the heating system), call in the appropriate expert for a consultation and ask what you can do to prep the work area... Yes, this too may cost $100, but it can save you $500 and up. (Years ago, my boss and I went to what we thought would be a "simple clogged-toilet job". When we got to the house, we discovered a cluttered, dirty home crawling with small children and a bathroom with a quarter of an inch of standing, filthy water on the floor. What should have been a simple 1-hr job turned into a 4-hr ordeal. The homeowner paid dearly for that.)
• Offer "sweat equity"... But only do so when you can be more of a help than a hindrance. (Admit outright that you're woefully ignorant, and that you'll simply do precisely what you're told to do.) Example... The wife and I are replacing our old wood/coal burning stove (pictured below) with a high-efficiency gas fireplace insert.
  
  

  
  
  

  And one of the uglier jobs in the process is to bore a 1.5" hole through both sides of a cement block located roughly 6 feet off the basement floor as an entry point for the flexible gas piping. To have a pro do it, that's time consuming and therefore expensive. Instead, we bored the holes ourselves and saved quite a few bucks...
  
  

  
  
  

  No one said it was going to be easy!
  
  
• Be proactive, and be timely... Don't let small energy inefficiencies grow into nightmare energy problems, and then call in the pros. You'll pay for that in more ways than one. Contractors really don't like fixing needless messes.
• Offer to barter... Better to spend 4 hrs helping a contractor get his computer running (or getting his garden in order, or performing a root canal, or doing what ever you do) than plunking down for 240 minutes on the couch, watching the one-eyed brain bandit, eating pie, and then writing out a $500 check.
• If your oil or electric heating system is on its last BTUs... Contact the local gas company. Sometimes, there are deals to be had if you agree to switch over to gas. At last check, the local Cape Cod gas company would provide a new "conversion" customer with a top-end furnace for apx. $500 delivered on site...
• Watch for discounts on energy efficient windows... Some gas companies also offer coupons on energy-saving windows.

Improvements such as those mentioned above will likely be expensive at the outset, but will immediately improve your quality of living, and in the long run probably save you $$$.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hi,

Before we get started... Good news concerning the NovaBird motion-activated camera. (In one of the last posts I think I mentioned that the camera was automatically shutting itself off.) She seems to be doing just fine now. Today it snapped 180 shots including the pic below...



Now, using that scowling, inquisitive creature as a backdrop... I ask you, did you see the news reports concerning the average cost of heating a home using fuel oil or propane for the looming winter?!? It looks like we're talking about a figure creeping up on the $2,000 mark. (Higher Utility Bills Face Homeowners).

How's a working stiff going to afford birdseed or even a bite to eat for that matter?

Here's how...

• First things first... Be sure to thoroughly rummage through the U.S. Department of Energy, Tips on Saving Energy & Money at Home site. A little jaunt through all that info can save you thousands of bucks right there.
• Next, (and this is going to sound strange), but in the winter time avoid "bottoming out" your thermostat in the morning when you go to work, and then "cranking it" when you get home at night. In general, it's best to keep the high and low temperatures within 5 to 10 degrees of each other. The reason for this is that if you allow the dwelling to cool down too much, it will take an excessive amount of energy to warm it back up. Making careful note of your heating bill on a monthly basis will help you find the ideal...
• Dressing in sweats, tube socks, bathrobes, and caps inside the home is a wonderful thing... Wear layers and you'll be surprised how much you can lower your heating bill.

Gotta run. But next time, I'm going to let you in on a few "energy-conservation secrets" from the shadowy world of a retired plumber's helper!

See you by those inexpensively warm feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Don't forget that you can view our Flickr site to see 1,600 neat photographs of birds etc.

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hi,

As we all know, the Web is an astounding, roiling treasure trove of information. But the changes come at us so fast and furious that at times it's difficult to keep up, let alone find valuable content... Let's see what we can do about that...

Some time ago we talked about using the eBirdseed.com site and installing and using RSS. Now let's take a look at the "Blogroll" depicted below.



You can find our blogroll on the right-hand side of the main eBirdseed.com blog page.

Each of these blogs offers unique features, but I'd like to take a quick look at three in particular today...

• 10,000 Birds: I really enjoy the simplicity of this one... The home page simply contains the first paragraph of a few posts, a simple search engine text box, links to recent posts, and the other standard stuff (menu bar, etc.) Its straightforward nature is reflected in such posts as, Birding on My Butt.
• Birdchick.com: This site covers all things avian (and bunnies, and bees, and flowers), but its creator (Sharon Stiteler) really shines when it comes to raptors. The photography is excellent, and Ms. Stiteler's passion for birding is just as impressive... This is a "must-see" blog.
• Mary's View: This just might be my favorite... The writing is great. The photography is phenomenal. And the subject matter is diverse and top notch. This is another "must-see".

Perhaps the real beauty of all these blogs in our blogroll is that each has its own blogroll... This gives even a casual reader access to hundreds of great posts...
Gotta' love it!

See you by those many and varied feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Should you happen upon a great bird blog, send me a comment and I'll update our 'roll!

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

One of the beauties of a blog like this is in its inherent informality... These posts, after all, are little more than the literary "fleshing out" of the morning ritual of filling the feeders in our sweats and slippers, and in the process of doing so, chatting with the neighbor.

Still, it happens... There are times when the words just don't flow. This is one of those times. Thankfully, I can fall back on the informality of backyard birding itself.... So I figured I'd just sort of ramble about a crow and a cat...

Was playing with the NovaBird remote camera... Dang that's fun! (Though we may have a problem... The 'Bird has taken to turning itself off... I'll have to look into this further.) Regardless, here's yet another crow picture. (This is getting to be too easy.)



Onward...

I'll preface this next bit by simply stating that I don't believe that the U.S. Government is hiding dead "ET"s in Area 51, and I don't believe in ESP... I'm an engineer, and I trust that which can be measured and repeated. That being said, our Ragdoll Cat "Toby" is really beginning to freak me out... He seems to know when I'll be home... Here's the deal...

Toby lacks the virtue of bravery. (Footsteps approaching the front door always spark a rapid, belly-dragging, slinking retreat to the safety of the underside of the bed.) He also lacks the virtue of a "catlike" grace. (He frequently runs into things.) Still, there is strange talent in the creature. When I'm away, Toby seems to know when I'm coming home... Mrs. CapeCodAlan can tell when I'm near because 5 minutes prior to my arrival, the cat will hunker down by the front door and stare at it in anticipation. I don't know whether he can hear the car's engine, or what, but he's shown this behavior over and over and over again under completely random circumstances... I walk into the house and his stare... Kinda' makes my skin crawl to be honest...

So here's Toby...



If anyone has seen similar behavior in an animal, I'd like to hear about it...

'Till later...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)