eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Well, I guess the time had to come... Plastic hangouts for the back yard birds... But that might not be all that bad. I've been reading about the materials themselves (called "RPL" or "Recycled Plastic Lumber"), and it seems that this is a reasonable step forward for recycling. The materials appear to be amazingly stable and completely impervious to water. Still, I had to play with one; the photo below shows a Red-breasted Nuthatch on a plastic feeder the wife and I received as a Christmas present.



So far, the birds seem to be quite happy with the new feeder. Time will tell if the feathered ones will continue to flock to the trough, how easy it is to clean, if it really can live up to its guarantee never to split, chip, rot or warp, etc. But at this point, all systems look "Go!" (If the birds really do accept our new plastic feeder, ultimately, what I'd like to do is set up a few of them mounted on stainless-steel poles which are impaled in recycled plastic lumber four by fours per "Hanging/Mounting Your New Feeder, (Part 1)" and Hanging/Mounting Your New Feeder, (Part 2). That would make for a feeding system that would probably last for 50 years or more.) Aside from the longevity, appearance is important too. From a distance, the feeder looks perfectly natural. But up close (as in the picture above), there's no hiding the fact that it's synthetic RPL.

Right now, eBirdseed.com only carries one such feeder made of poly lumber, the "Rubicon Meal Worm Feeder"... So the question becomes, would you like to see us carry a wider variety made of this new material? Just use that "comment" button to let us know.

See you by those bionic feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. A good source for info concerning RPL is the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

P.P.S. In my last post, I wrote of seeing a UFO... I hope you noted the skepticism when I stated: "That's all... Maybe 10 or 15 seconds... No little green men... No glowing ectoplasm... No alien proctologists probing parts unknown... Just a restless light object..." My guess is that it was simply ball lightning. (I know of two extremely reliable reports of such occurrences within a five-mile radius of what I saw.) Then again, because it happened right on the edge of the bog proper, it also could have been a phenomenon associated with biogas. Like I said... Boring.

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hi,

I mentioned in my last post that years ago I saw a UFO. People have expressed interest, so here is the story - prepare to be bored.

Around 1977, my buddy Richard and I were fresh out of high school. If we weren't working, sleeping, eating, or going to college, we were down on the Bank St. cranberry bogs. We grew up exploring and playing Frisbee there, and by the mid to late '70s were spending spare nights knocking back "soda pops", talking about girls, music, and politics. (Did I mention that we talked a lot about girls?) But I digress... Occasionally, a friend would accompany us, and that night the friend was Peter.

Before I go further, the cast of characters needs to be fleshed out. At the time, we were just students. We didn't buy into the trend of "disco", (or any other trend for that matter). Over the years, both Peter and I would become engineers, and Richard now works as a network administrator for the local hospital. In short, in spite of our proclivity for nighttime forays into the woods and bogs armed only with yet-to-be opened six packs, we were (and are), on the larger scale, remarkably sober and introspective.

Now back to the story...

On that night (probably around 9 - 10 pm), we likely followed the usual path from Long Rd., through the old swamp we called "Paradise" to Meadowbrook Ln., across Gorham Rd., and started up what was an unlit, single-lane, unpaved, rutted bog access pathway. That pathway is now Bog's End Rd. (See pics below... Credits go out to both Google Earth and MapQuest.)





About half way up Bog's End Rd. Peter froze whilst uttering some expletive. I looked up to see it next, and Richard saw it last. There at the elbow of the end of the dirt road was a white orb or disk. It was roughly 50 to 75 meters away and at tree-top level. If I had a dime, I probably could have extended my hand and covered the light with the coin and had room to spare. At the time, I thought it was about the size of a soccer ball or a basketball. (I just checked the math, and that seems about right...) Anyway, the light sat absolutely still for a few seconds, darted to the right about 5 feet, paused again, then scooted out of sight further to the right. It wasn't a spotlight. It wasn't a star or a planet. And it certainly wasn't a streetlight or a porch light. (At the time, the bogs were simply dark abysses.) It was just a silent, lonely luminescent object sitting 30' up at the end of a desolate old bog access road.

When all is said and done, all I saw was a light that hovered, then moved to the right, and then boogied starboard pronto. That's all... Maybe 10 or 15 seconds... No little green men... No glowing ectoplasm... No alien proctologists probing parts unknown... Just a restless light object... (See "Birds and the Nature of the Universe".)

I told you this was going to be boring.

See you by those Area 51 feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it's almost over. Gifts given... Gifts received... Phone calls and emails traded... Heartfelt thanks to all...

Santa was particularly thoughtful in that he gave us the "Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song" book complete with audio from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Not only is it a wonderful book, and the calls are good, but it drives the cat crazy with curiosity. By my way of thinking, that's a win all the way around.

What else? Hey, "Otis" our Eastern Screech-Owl is back!



At one point a squirrel made a frontal assault on Otis, but thought better of it, much to the relief of Suzie and I... Neither one of us wanted to witness a portrait of "Nature in all Her Glory", because it was no doubt going to be painted in lots and lots of squirrel blood.

Let's see... What else? We put up a new feeder, and relegated the old one to the lowly office of "squirrel feeder". That threw the birds for a loop. (FWIW... When you first set up a new feeder, or move, or even just swap out an old one for a new one, be prepared for "bird confusion". You may need to put extra seed on the ground around the feeder, or even on the feeder's roof.)

As for our less-than-bird-like discussion... Would anyone care to hear of my encounter with a genuine UFO? Just hit that "Comment" button...

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In the last post, one of the readers (Gerry) raised some excellent points... I'll see if I can address them here... (Gerry's questions/comments are in italics.)

• Where do birds go in snow storms? Quite simply, anywhere that there is protection. Years ago, my buddy Richard and I would explore the woods and the bogs during winter nights. When storms really tuned up, we'd sometimes seek the shelter of the overhanging branches of evergreens. Much to my shame, we'd occasionally spook roosting birds into the darkness and certain death... 20/20 hindsight...
• Do birds use birdhouses as refuge during storms? Well, I know our Eastern Screech-Owl "Otis" uses our owl house for refuge, so other smaller birds probably do the same thing with our birdhouse. But a better alternative might be an actual roost. A roost is somewhat similar to a birdhouse with the exceptions being:
  • The access hole is at the bottom of the box and not at the top
  • The inside walls are scored to give purchase to little claws
  • The inside also contains staggered dowels for roosting
  • While there still are drainage holes in the bottom, ventilation is kept to a minimum
  
  
  Hmmm... Sounds like I could modify the rough design below to serve as both a house and roost for all seasons. Hmmm indeed...
  
  
  (See also: Let's Build a Birdhouse! (Post 1 of 2) and Let's Build a Birdhouse! (Post 2 of 2).)
• Where do they find food? Little feathered beasties are remarkable in their ability to scrounge, store, and improvise. The general consensus is that birds rely on feeders for roughly 20% of their food. Still, nature is a cruel mistress, and storms can wreak absolute havoc on birds. (More than once, I've traipsed through snow and wandered upon a bird that had simply frozen to death. The "black box" equation is tragically simple... When food energy going into the creature is less than the amount of thermal energy required to keep the thing alive, it will simply fall off a branch or fall from the sky. That's why everyone recommends high-energy foods (like suet) in addition to regular feed for birds in the colder months.)
• Perhaps we should have a guest interview? Excellent idea! And I think I know just the person... As "The Brain" says, "Time will tell Pinky..."
• Trying to "keep it real"... Thanks Gerry... I try to walk the fine line between being a casual backyard birder, a serious birdwatcher, and an amateur ornithologist... No doubt on my best days I can almost meet the mark, and on my worst... Well... Let's just talk about those New England Patriots...

Lest you think you can sneak away without a little "Coffee-Table Confab"... Let me take a brief moment to tick off both religious and non-religious ideologues (and everyone in between) concerning the controversy of seasonal salutations such as "Merry Christmas!" I think we're missing the point folks... In my opinion, if nothing else, it all boils down to a matter of manners. Let me explain... As an agnostic, I have more than my share of gripes with religion - all religions. However, when a person offers glad tidings based upon something so deeply personal as a religion, only a rude, self-absorbed idiot would take offense at the gesture or fail to return the civility. If nothing else, it's simply an issue of manners.

And with that... From my heart of hearts, Merry Christmas!

By the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi,

Where to begin? In ballpark numbers, this is my 130th post. And while it's been fun, I don't feel like I've been at my most productive. So whether you're new to this blog, or have been with us right from the start, I'd like all of us to gather around the virtual coffee table and have a little confab... Borrowing from the movie "The Untouchables"... "Let me pay you the compliment of being blunt."

The simple fact is that this blog isn't generating the traffic it should, and that's my fault. Let me explain... For months, the boss and I have been looking at ways to spread the "eBirdseed.com blog" word. To be honest, none of our research floated my boat. Instead, something kept nagging at me... In our last post, I mentioned that the wife and I had gone on a bird-blog bender, and as a result added a few new blogs to our blogroll. But beyond those additions, I also noticed a distinct trend in those other, more successful blogs - that of writing beyond the subject of just birds. One person wrote about the passing of her mother. Another wrote about "Sweeney Todd". And still another commented on collecting coins. When all is said and done, these are worthy subjects. Some of the sites aren't dedicated birding sites, and even amongst those that are, one can only "blog the bird" for just so long without a quick break. Put simply, the nagging that I've been experiencing was (and continues to be) that I had to add variety and up the quality.

So, in keeping with the "coffee table theme", here is what I propose... As always, each post will offer up backyard birding and home stuff - stuff like the photo below of one of the blossoms on the orchid my sister in law sent to my wife for her birthday.



And naturally, feel free to ask every birding question imaginable, and I will address them as I always have. (I owe reader Gerry six responses!)

However, I'll also toss out an issue for discussion. And I won't be speaking as "CapeCodAlan at eBirdseed.com", that lovable klutz with a camera... I'll just be debating as Alan, a wholly different and much pricklier creature. Anyway, all are welcome to participate... Just do your research, be articulate and thoughtful, and wear extremely thick skins. You know where the "Comment" button is.

To make sure that the coffee table doesn't burst into flames, three people will have veto power before a subject or response ever sees the light of day. My wife, Gordon, and I will all be waiting with "Web Mallet." It's entirely ok to disagree... It's completely unacceptable to be disagreeable or use "hate speech".

Alrighty then, let's get started... Check out the screen shot below...



How's that for the news? Now there's professionalism... "Study: Divorced parents do just as good as married couples"? And who can forget the "UFOs over Haiti?" tripe? Ok, let's play Journalism 101... The title of the study piece was grammatically gruesome. Let's try something like, "Study: Parenting skills of divorced equal those of married counterparts". And the junk UFO piece should never have even hit the Internet - that was debunked by Snopes et al... (http://www.snopes.com/photos/odd/haitiufos.asp) So what's the "coffee-table bottom line"? As a news outlet, Yahoo! needs to get its act together. And Yahoo! is certainly not alone. I'll bet you dimes to donuts that no significant news carrier mentioned that in the last 24 hours roughly 25,000 children around the world died from a combination of malnutrition and illnesses that most of us would treat via a quick run to the local CVS. (Childinfo.org) Nope... There are no legitimate stories there... But wait! There's plenty of bandwidth for Jessica Simpson... The bottom line is that American media is for the most part insipid at best. (Yes, they do occasionally stumble upon a real story, but for every time they carry something like http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/58554/can-a-soccer-ball-change-the-wo, they hold court to 100 pieces of sensationalistic junk.)

Enough ranting... Told you that a change was coming to this blog.

Better run. Granted, this is rough, but it's a start. Let me know what you think of these comments.

And remember, this isn't eBirdseed.com proselytizing... This is me.

See you by the feeders...

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi all,

Now this is my kind of post! I get to write about all the stuff and loose ends that comes with this time of year... Onward!

• First, as we do every so often, yesterday the wife and I went on a genuine birding-blog hunt. Not the casual, "Oh, let me take a look here..." sort of thing. We're talking about a first-rate blogging bender. Results? We added a few new blogs to our blogroll... But more than that, I noted the fact that virtually all of the truly successful bird blogs offered insight into the personality and day-to-day lives of the bloggers themselves. And that's a problem for me in that I'm as boring as a door knob at a dust party... Still, I'll do my best to be more open in the coming year... See below.
• An update on that little bit of attempted price gouging I mentioned in the "Squirrels, Clams, and Price Gouging" post... Gordon, your chowder is on the way. You should have it early to middle of this week. And to "Mr. Soulless Zombie Highwayman"... I finally shipped by the good old USPS at extraordinary savings. No muss, no fuss... (I wish I could mention the name of the international shipping company "Mr. Soulless Zombie Highwayman" works for, but I won't... I'm simply hoping that he's an aberration.)
• What next? Speaking of clams and clamming... I was seriously thinking about going quahogging today, but I missed the tide. That's a bummer. No kidding, that's a real bummer. We're in the midst of a cold, rainy nor'easter with gale-force gusts and 6" of mushy snow on the ground. There's absolute solitude and peace out on the flats in these conditions. It's impossible to describe. Anyway, to give you the slightest of ideas concerning the conditions, below is a picture of the end of our driveway and a few pictures of unhappy mourning doves, chickadees, and a rather damp downy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Take note from some posts ago... Even if you aren't a football fan, it's worthwhile to watch the New England Patriots... Simple history in the making.
• Christmas is now 8 days away... (What follows will no doubt give the boss reason to pause and wonder if he shouldn't get a more politically-correct blogger. Here goes...) I hate Christmas... The hassles, the running around, the patently-stupid, over-expensive gifts... (I've received such treasures as a "Dancing Santa" doll, a corduroy suit made in Poland, and a framed picture of a corpulent, slimy slug on a stick... If I'm a lyin', I'm a dyin'.) My suggestion is to buy an eBirdseed.com gift certificate online, and then go do something else like bidding on a "Bah Humbug!" hat. (See what I mean by being "more open"?)

Gotta run, but we'll talk more about where you want this blog to go in the very near future...

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hi,

With Christmas only 12 days away, we got our first real snowfall of the season yesterday. It probably amounted to only 6", but it was the wet, heavy, slippery stuff. In a word, "Yuck!" Still, the birds were out and I managed to create yet another montage of photographic masterpieces.







For me, the collection above embodies the beauty of backyard birding. Unlike rabid wildlife birders, I don't have to trudge through sleet and snow only to stand both freezing and frozen trying to snatch that special glimpse of nature. Don't get me wrong... I've done it... Oh I've done it, and mostly at night! I've hiked, jogged, skated, swam, sailed, rowed, and biked my way through all the glory that is cranky Mother Nature. And what did I get for my efforts? Well, I did get to see a bunch of critters, and even got some photos... That was way cool. But what other perks/lessons did my forays into the all-too-often frigid wild get me?

• At different times, I was attacked by three unknown beasts each having bad-hair days. And one of those attacks occurred while I was helplessly sunk waste deep in cranberry bog ditch mud. Don't ask.
• Frostbite isn't a lot of fun.
• Twice ice has betrayed me. One time, the sudden immersion broke my breastbone and almost made me spill my bee... Ah... It almost made me spill my soda pop.
• Mice are cute, but they do bite.
• There is no graceful way to be dragged out of the water with your lungs full of the stuff. And going through the process three times is just unseemly.
• Wood ticks and poison ivy are not for wimps.
• Did you know that there are curfew rules for public ocean beaches? The police certainly do.
• Hey! Here's a revelation... Snapping turtles can get really big, and they can be very aggressive.
• Stepping on a yellow jackets' nest will somehow inspire seven of the little rascals to fly up the back of your shirt and prompt them to declare your flesh property of "The Hive". And whatever you do, don't get stung in the tongue by one of the little beasties.
• Wasps don't have nearly the sense of humor of yellow jackets.

You get the idea...

Nowadays, I'll stick to the more civil (warmer and safer) forms of wildlife observation like backyard birding.

Well, better run... We've got a Nor'easter due here tomorrow, and I just gotta' get ready to hit the clam flats when the winds peak at 60 mph!

See you by the feeders... I'll let you know if the leaks in my hip boots and gauntlets spontaneously sealed up...

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unknown Lobster Lady (laughing) in parking lot: "Hey mister! Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? I mean I've got the lobster and you've got the clams..."

Me (laughing): "How much did they want to charge you for shipping?"

Unknown Lobster Lady (laughing): "Eighty-five dollars for one lousy lobster. How much did they want to charge you?"

Me (laughing): "One hundred dollars for shipping 22 clams. But then he changed his mind and threw me out..."

Yeah... That's a strange way to introduce a post, but it was a strange day... Let me start from the beginning.

The day before yesterday, I went clamming to get some quahogs for my boss (Gordon) who lives in Minnesota. (See "Cape Cod Quahogging* and a Note for the Boss in Minnesota".) The clamming was rocky, but I eked out enough littlenecks to give the boss and his family a decent snack. So far so good... Yesterday, the plan was to overnight (or 2nd day) ship them to the Big Guy. Easy... I'd saved a Styrofoam packing cooler and ice that was used to ship vacuum-packed food in before... I'd saved the bubble wrap... I'd preprinted the address... Handing the package off to those nice delivery folks was going to be 60 seconds... Two minutes tops. They could inspect the contents, tape the shipping cooler shut (I even brought my own packing tape), and as The "Great One" would say, "Away we go!"

Now, let's give this story a little foreboding... Do you remember when you were a kid and you used to ride your bike "no hands"? Remember taking your hands off the handle bars? Remember what happened when the front wheel abruptly turned sideways? Come on, admit it! You remember the moment just before the crash when that "Little Voice" in the back of your head whispered those fog-soft words, "Uh oh, this one is going to hurt..."

Back to the story... So, I was in the delivery store standing in line behind a very nice couple with two boxes. Like me, they had prepacked but not sealed, and they'd done an excellent job of it too. (I've moved at least 10 times in my life, and I know a good packing job when I see one.) The young man at the counter (who, from this point forward in the story shall be referred to as "Mr. Soulless Zombie Highwayman") indifferently informed them that they had to unpack everything and repack in the store's own bubble wrap. And how much did said bubble wrap cost you ask? $75. I kid you not. "It's very expensive," stated "Mr. Soulless Zombie Highwayman". That's when the "Little Voice" spoke... "Uh oh, this one is going to hurt..." At some point another woman entered the store with a package... It turns out that she had a live lobster, and after a brief confab behind the counter, another clerk told her that the shipping charge was going to be $85 even though she carefully prepacked... She just stood at the counter in disbelief. Again, that "Little Voice" spoke... "Uh oh, this one is going to hurt..." And as for the couple in front of me? The total cost to ship two boxes (after the couple repacked them) was $500. "Mr. Soulless Zombie Highwayman" didn't weigh the package... He just rattled off $500. I swear this is true. Once again, the "Little Voice" spoke... "Uh oh, this one is going to hurt..." So, as the couple stumbled away to find cartage elsewhere, I stepped up to greet "Mr. Soulless Zombie Highwayman". Still, I put on my "proactive, upbeat, ingratiating, confidant" hat, and politely offered that I had 22 clams iced and ready to migrate to Minnesota in a commercial-grade shipping container. (At which point, the now spectator Lobster Lady stated, "It would be cheaper if you flew them there yourself.") Now, the "Little Voice" was no longer little. "Mr. Soulless Zombie Highwayman" looked at the package and quoted $100. Keeping my cool, I asked if maybe I could ship 3 to 5 days and reduce the cost a little? "Nope," was the simple answer, but with a follow-up... "You know what? We're not going to accept the package. I'm the guy who makes the decisions around here, and we won't ship it. That's it." He wasn't mad. He wasn't sarcastic. He wasn't defensive. He didn't offer explanation, or alternatives to any of us... We either paid whatever he wanted, or we were free to go with packages still in hand. Happy holidays.

So what does all this have to do with birdseed you might ask? Everything! I was so incredulous by the time I got home that I just stood and watched the birds and the squirrels. Then it hit me that the picture below sums up the experience. Selfishness... Gluttony... Arrogance...



See you by those disappointed feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Don't worry Gordon... As soon as I got home, I made the chowder myself and put it in the deep freeze... I'll vacuum pack it and that will give me more shipping time to use the USPS... Sorry to deny you the fun of cooking it yourself though...

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Once again, keeping the theme varied... An indirect note to the boss...

Hi Gordon, some time ago, I wrote a post on the world's finest clam chowder. You mentioned that you'd like to give it a try, but you needed fresh clams to do it. Well, 22 of the freshest clams the Atlantic has to offer are on their way to you... (None of that motor oil-saturated junk the harbors spew forth.) Here's a shot of the beach where I scratched the 'hogs earlier today.



Forgive the wide photo, but I wanted to give you (and our readers) a sense of the serenity. (Also note the Herring Gulls. Every so often we get those ruffians at our feeders. Even crows and hawks steer clear of these brutes. A better picture of one of these critters is here.)

So anyway... The local term for these bivalves is actually "littlenecks".



These are the smallest legal quahogs - tender, juicy... I wanted an even two dozen for you, but time and tide betrayed me by two... (I always scale down the recipe by at least half to make sure that everything consumed is fresh.).

Beyond the chowder, there are other ways to partake in these guys...

• You can enjoy them on the half shell. (Though I don't like the idea of eating sushi... Read that, "I don't like the idea of eating raw bait.")
• Littlenecks steamed in a pot with a couple of bottles' worth of light beer will get your attention. Watch the pot closely and wait for them to open fully... Be sure to start 'em cold and have the buttered French bread ready for dipping when they're done!
• One of the old favorites around these parts is grilled littlenecks... Brace yourself by prepping a half-cut lemon, a handy bottle of light beer, and hot sauce. Next, place the 'necks on a grill, and wait for them to cook in their own juices and open. As soon as they do, pop them off the grill and sprinkle in a bit of the lemon, drizzle in the beer, and finish it off with a couple of drops of the spicy sauce. (But keep in mind that this only works with live, fresh clams.)

So have a blast Gordon, and Merry Christmas to you and yours,

Alan

* Pronounced: Koh hogging

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

First off, I apologize for the tardiness of this post... Suffice it to say that this is a busy time of the year. I'll try to do better.

For this post though, the reason is quite different... I was looking forward to punching out a simple bird blog, (though they rarely end up being simple). But this time it took two days. This time the news broke concerning the Omaha mall shooting... I truly wanted to write about that, but simply don't have the space or time. Needless to say that our thoughts and our prayers go out to the thirteen victims and their families.

Back to the birds...

Now here's something to think about... In the last post I mentioned a possible 2008 eBirdseed.com calendar. To give you an idea of the images, we used the picture below for the cover.



The calendar was my pet project, but I put it on hold because it involved a shipping charge. (As you may well know, we pride ourselves on convenience, superior products at fair prices, great customer service, and free shipping.) The calendar is set up such that each month has its own picture... Some shots you've seen before, and some you haven't... Some pictures are of backyard birds, and some are uncommon to the typical feeder.... Regardless... I put this on the back shelf until the boss and I can find a way to make sure that you don't get stuck with the printer's "shipping and handling charges".

But, this does beg a larger question for '08... What additional products/services would you like us to offer? (Remember... When you comment my post, it goes straight to the owner of this company. When you call 1-866-324-7373, and you speak with Gordon or Dan, you've moved up the "company food chain" as high as you can go.) So what do you want??? Would you like eBirdseed.com mugs? Mouse pads? T-shirts? How about more contests? Or less contests with bigger prizes? Would you like reviews of backyard birding products? Would you like us to carry backyard birding products like cameras and binoculars? The absolute bottom line is that we can't serve you if you don't tell us what you want.

So there it (finally) is... A belated post and a fresh request that you help us better serve you in the upcoming New Year...

See you by the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hi,

For those of you not familiar with the NovaBird, it's a remote camera that is triggered automatically by movement. (For more information about the camera, see: A Day of Testing, etc., More Experimenting with the NovaBird Camera and NovaBird Remote Camera Review.) It has a fixed 15" - 18" focal length, and captures photos 3MP at a whack. We have ours configured to snap a max of apx. 400 shots onto a 256 MB SD RAM chip at any given time. At this point, I plan on getting one decent shot out of every 10 to 20 pictures taken.



Alright, that should bring you up to speed on the NovaBird. As for the picture above... Obviously, it's just a regular Jay - nothing too exciting. Still, it does denote a sort of a watershed mark for the camera itself for several reasons...

• I've been having problems with the electrical connectors to the camera, but I think we're past that. (Note to users that extra care has to be used when connecting the external battery to the camera... Ditto for charging the battery itself.)
• This is the first time I've used the camera in cold weather... 22 degrees F (-5 C) and no problem.
• We got a remarkable pic of a Red-bellied Wood Pecker... With a little luck, that will be in our imminent 2008 eBirdseed.com calendar.
• Two changes seem inevitable:
  • Use something to camouflage the legs of the tripod that holds the camera
  • Position the camera on the side of the feeder and focus on one perch
• One last note... A quick look around the Web for folks selling the NovaBird reveals some appalling prices. If you're interested in buying the rig, contact NovaBird directly, or send a comment my way and I'll help as best as I can.

Gotta' run, there's work to be done...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Early in the morning, when I go out to fill the feeders, the world is still dark and most bird voices are still. Occasionally I'll hear the falling whinney of Otus, our local Screech Owl. Sometimes I'll hear the hoo hoo hoo-ing of Otus's larger cousin, the Great Horned Owl.

A short time later, as I step out the front door to wait for my carpool, the night is receding. It's not yet light, but darkness has a faint edge of pale morning showing. On still mornings, I can hear the fishing boats in the harbor start up their engines. Closer to home, one of our year-round population of Canada geese is honking a wake-up call to his cohorts near the pond. A seagull wheels overhead, just dimly seen in the not-light, and gives a hoarse call. Next to awaken are the crows, who all seem to start cawing at once to see if they're all up. Then they fall silent. A cardinal clears his throat and begins calling "Good cheer! Good cheer!" Faintly I begin to hear the tiny beeping sounds of a few nuthatches as they start hopping up and down the tree trunks. The chickadees and titmice join in; the blue jays start their raucus conversation; and by twitter and chirp, the whole avian orchestra begins its warm-up to welcome the morning. By this time it's almost light, and my carpool comes down the road as the day starts in earnest.


Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

But I have heard my early-morning symphony, and am ready to start my day.

See you by those musical feeders,

Mrs. CapeCodAlan

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)