eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Taking a slightly different tack... That of the long-term role we play as handy-folks and backyard birders... Consider the shot below...

Just a couple of feeders, right? Well, yes and no. While they are just bird feeders, they also are pressure treated posts, carefully placed, leveled, and plumbed. And, as such, they may well outlast me. Let me explain... When I was 25, I built things to last, but I knew that I'd outlast them. No more. Take a look at the kayak the wife and I built , the trellis, and the hutch... Though I'm not "AARP age" yet, it's clear that with just a little bit of care, this stuff will be around when I'm ash. So what will the strangers (perhaps even unborn right now) think of the feeder posts and all the other stuff we've done with the yard and the house? Who knows...

Twenty five years ago I developed a sizable lump in my armpit and went to the doctor post haste. Obviously, he did the usual medical mumbo jumbo. In the week I spent waiting for the test results, I did a ton of soul searching, and one of the worst moments (setting aside family issues) was standing in my cramped shop realizing that strangers were going to scavenge my most treasured possessions - my tools... And they wouldn't even appreciate the history. Long story made short, the tests came back negative. But the lesson learned haunts me to this day - when we build things (be it shops or feeder posts), we never know who will inherit our handiwork. Consider the plane below...

That's a 19th-century Thos. Appleton coffin-sided smoothing plane with a Moulson Brothers blade. The steel is of such quality that I've only had to sharpen it once in the last decade. Though worth only $75, it is one of my most cherished belongings. What's it's history? How many before me have held that tool with great reverence? Gone. All gone.

I know this sounds a bit macabre, but as you make adjustments to your yard (including the feeders), consider those who will follow... It's just a matter of time...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, that's the end of my 10 pound crawfish Christmas present...

I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I am... Paraphrasing the famous "A Christmas Story" movie when the Bumpuses' dogs devour the holiday turkey...

The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No mudbugs! No mudbug sandwiches! No mudbug salad! No mudbug gravy! Mudbug Hash! Mudbug a la King! Or gallons of mudbug soup! Gone, ALL GONE!

It's a sad thing, but it was time to move on and stop grossing out the wife. None the less, keep in mind that legend has it that a few ghost carapaces still haunt this joint, and can make themselves known as (of all things) the embellishments of a cap. Woo! Scary!

Moving on... We fed the crows some bread today, and were pleasantly surprised that the seagulls didn't spoil the party. At this point, I'm pretty sure the crows communicate via a sentry system, but I can only guess at how seagulls spread the word. I do know that they (seagulls) keep watch from remarkable altitudes. Does the sudden change in height by one bird signal food to all the rest? Is there a call? Do they use a "round robin" routine to scope out the most likely areas? I'd like to study seagulls more, but their aggressive behavior will drive away the more traditional backyard birds, and that's not an option. Oh well...

Beyond the local crayfish extinction and the seagulls, it's cold here - about 11 F. Having lived in Caribou ME, I'm normally quite used to these temperatures, except when I'm profoundly stupid and dress inappropriately. So anyway, I went out earlier, and practically froze my hands off... Just a word to the wise...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thought we might take a brief break from the birds for just a moment and re-visit late December, 2006. Way back then, we spoke of the wisdom of organizing your birding photos and files. Take a look at it now...

That's over 5,000 files, and 16 Gigs worth of bird stuff... (Needless to say... If anyone wants an east coast bird photograph, and can't find it in our library, just let me know... Odds are that we've got you covered.) But there's a bigger picture here... Note the organization... All it takes to back up a boat-load of work is a few clicks in Windows Explorer, and everything is taken care of. (As a matter of fact, I'm doing that now as I type.) And in this day and age of DVDs, on-line backup services, and cheap ($100) terabyte hard drives, not having redundant backups is simply unforgivable.

So let's see... What else is going on?

For some reason, the birds seem to be off their feed - that is, they're not hitting the feeders as hard as normal. Why? The weather forecast doesn't look that bad... We haven't seen any hawks around... Ground-based predators don't really pose a threat... What do they (the birds) know that we don't? In a way, it's kind of fun to ponder the mystery, but in another it's kind of spooky... We make sure that the birds have food and water, and sometimes they splurge, and other times they go missing... Why?

Signing off, but watchful...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well there they are. (Not that you can see them - the birds are the little black dots...)

Just a bunch of birds in the rain. From what I could tell, they were robins and grackles. Kind of neat, even if it is messy outside. But that got me to thinking. Name an active (vs. passive) outdoor pastime that can be enjoyed for nothing (or as much as you want to spend), 24 hrs/day, 7 days/week, 52 weeks/year... What's more, you can have fun from inside or out, under any weather condition, and burn as many calories as you want to including zero. Add to that, this bit of recreation can involve no technical stuff, or it can be ideal for the geek... Better yet, you can partake, even at work. You know what? Aside from backyard birding and feeder watching, I can't think of a single avocation that is so versatile. (Don't forget, I include backyard night fishing (BNF) in this diversion.) Maybe, it's just me, but I have fun with the activity, soup to nuts.

Let's see what else?

Well, the hutch build goes reluctantly forward. But cherry being the obstinate wood that it is, twists and warps at will. So trying to truly square the beast up (let alone get some sort of decent grain pattern) is an exercise in trade offs.

Sorry to cut this short, but gotta run...

Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't have to run just yet... Don't forget the Great Backyard Bird Count coming up February 12 - 15... It's fun, free, informative, easy, quick...

Now I've really got to run...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, all the other cameras may have decided to go pining for the fjords, but the old NovaBird still hangs in there...

Now about that "horn" or spur on the front of the turkey's face... That is... That is... OK, I'll be honest, I have no clue as to what that thing is. Let me look it up. Hang on... That is (he says with his most authoritative sounding voice) the snood of an un-excited turkey. If the bird had been in a fuss, that protrusion would have been engorged with blood, deep red, and drooping over the side of the beak. (Thanks big time to Dog Breed Info Center.)

Onward...

And what have we here? Why nothing short of a Backyard Night Fishing (BNF) double...

On the left, a cat, and on the right, a possum. I kid you not... Obviously, I run the cam on the right for eBirdseed. But on the left is a camera I've brought on-line for a wine business. It just so happened that both streams caught these animals at the same time... And there you are. I know that this seems like a silly habit, but it isn't. Late the other night, I happened to glance up for just for a moment, and watched an owl swoop by the eBirdseed lens - absolutely beautiful.

And speaking of beautiful, take a look at the sky during sunrise...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Once again, we've got several bird issues to address, so let's get right to it. First, there's a visit from the usual suspects... What a bunch of turkeys! Kidding aside, they're getting annoying. They're loud, brutish, and obviously don't know how to use a restroom, unless you call our entire backyard a loo. Hmmm...

Alright, it ain't pretty, but I guess we can live them guys. However, the chainsaw with wings below has become intolerable.

Any time we put food out for the crows on their tray, this beast and his brethren swarm, and chase away every living creature in their path. To make matters worse, once the seagulls find the food, they fight over it like Bumpus' dogs fight over a Christmas turkey. No, this horde needs to be discouraged. But how? Let's see, aside from their size, there's one glaring difference between the gulls and the crows - gulls have webbed feet (3 webbed toes forward and a very short toe pointing backward). I doubt that gulls can perch on a relatively thin smooth rod. So here's the plan... I modify the existing flat, open tray such that it is only accessible by small birds and birds who can perch like crows. Take a look at a rough drawing...

That's not a huge project and it's not an expensive one either... Things to think about...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've got a lot to cover, so let's get started...

First off, yet another camera has decided to stop playing nice with us. This time it's the Cobra video camera that exited stage left. Oh goody. It's not that the cam was pivotal, but it was a fun test bed.

Onward...

We've had a pretty good stint of backyard night fishing (BNF). (And you thought that only birds use those feeders and seed.) The first photograph is that of a possum...

Yeah, I know... The image isn't the greatest. But that's OK. I still bagged my possum. (I like to think of it as a "Catch a Snapshot and Release" program.) The pic below is much worse, but it is indeed that of a coyote. I watched for some time as the animal moved back and forth before hitting the "Print Screen" button.

Now about that UFO I saw way back when... This is what it looked like... Take away the trees, raise the light to about 30', and you've got it.

Obviously, this light was a spot from a neighbor's house, but the actual UFO I saw was at least three quarters of a mile away from the nearest facing building, moved rapidly, and then shot off... I still say swamp gas or, "I dunno."

And finally, there is the great hutch project...

and...

A long time ago, I used to be a cabinetmaker, and every so often I like to dabble in the pastime. This hutch has been years in the making, and is all cherry. (Note to self - never work in cherry again. It's so hard it eats tools.) But why cherry and why such solid construction? Because I'm not just building for the wife and I... I'm building for generations unborn and complete strangers. It's a weird feeling really...

I'm just going to be over here by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought we might start this one off with a nice spring photo of a blue jay... This is from way back on May 5th, 2007, and was shot using the Novabird camera. It's fun to go back and look at old images on windy, rainy winter nights like tonight. (Take that, snow!) For some reason, I've never been a fan of the jays... They're really quite beautiful... Just ain't my cup of tea I guess. (Funny how folks take to some birds and not others... I like red-wing blackbirds and crows, but blue jays and robins simply don't gun my motor. To each his own I guess.)

Stop the presses! We just put out some crackers for the crows, and noticed a most unusual behavior... The crows seem to be using a sentry system to streamline and/or safeguard their feeding habits from the ever-increasing threat of seagulls. What follows is a preliminary observation, and perhaps just happenstance, but it certainly bears noting... Here's their routine as best I can tell...

1. They post a lookout by the feeders and the rest fly off, yet remain in "cawing distance". (Unless they use some sort of relay system, which is truly frightening.)
2. When food (like the crackers) becomes available, the sentry calls the others, but holds his position.
3. The "gatherer" crows respond and collect all they can, then fly off with the sentry trailing with nothing, even if that means leaving food behind. Soooo...... What does the sentry get? To me it suggests that in some way, shape, or form, they share as a social unit. Remember that piece we wrote about crow brains, the palliums, and social behavior?

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Oh, you're going to love this one - determining bird size from a photograph. For the backyard birder, this is pretty easy as long as you have a known reference. (Though for a nature birdwatcher, I'd imagine the task is a bit more formidable.) Alrighty then... Where to begin? Well, how about at the beginning Beguine? Here's the pic and we want to know the length of the crow...

(Before we get to truly rocking and rolling, be forewarned that I'm using a digital microscope and a digital caliper, so if the following photograph strikes you as odd, that's OK. I'm just trying to introduce as much accuracy into the process as possible. There's no reason why you can't use a magnifying glass and a decent rule to perform the same steps...)

And away we go!

1. Right off the bat, we're going to have to relate the unknown length of the beastie to a known length in the image. Well, it just so happens that I built that crow feeding tray and know that the rail that goes around the top is .75" tall. So now we have a reference.
2. Next, I used the microscope and found the length of the bird in the picture.

   

   Hmmm... Looks to be about 31 mm

3. I repeated the step above and found that the .75" rail was about 1.4 mm
4. So what is the ratio of the image railing to the real railing? It's about 13.25.
5. Onward! To get the real length of the creature, we'll have to multiply the picture length of 31 mm by 13.25 and that gives us 410 mm, or about 16.125". That sounds right and looks right. Granted, the bird might be crouching or the snapshot angle may not be at a true 90 degrees... But close enough.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, it's been a heck of a year for cameras around here... It took forever to get our streaming bird cam up and stable, but she's finally running like a dream now. (Oh! Dag nab it! I forgot to mention that some time ago Mrs. CCA spotted the classic owl claw marks in the snow which means that if anyone was watching our cam that night (we call it Backyard Night Fishing or BNF), they probably would have seen the ghostly sweep of an owl snatching up some poor mouse.) Anywho... (Where was I?) Uhhh... Yeah... We were talking about a tough year for cameras... Let's see... The Canon Eos took an unexpected salt-water bath and is now walking the streets of glory. Then the Olympus 2100 finally turned turtle after a decade and thousands of images. And lastly, the diminutive Vivitar morphed into a paperweight... But not to fret... We still have a scanner and those pesky plate reprints from the 1916 "Birds of New York". Check out this Coopers Hawk piece...

Not bad... But how about if we use our microscope to take a good look at the hawks head? (Fascinating to look at the print technology of 1916 up close.)

And who actually drew the original plates? Why it's none other than Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874-1927)...

But there's also nothing like the real thing...

So let the cameras knuckle under... We'll get by just fine! (Besides, we still have the Novabird remote camera, the flip video, the cell phone camera, and two video cameras...) Yup... Plenty of lens mauling yet.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, I thought I'd at least start this post off on an upbeat note before bumming everyone out. The pic above is obviously that of a beautiful cardinal... Oh for the serenity of that summer day last year.

Watching the news now... It looks like the quake in Haiti has killed between 10,000 and 100,000 people... Fate's cruelty is stunning... What limited infrastructure that existed is now in ruins. The government building is rubble as is the UN. And the country is so poor that it doesn't even have the heavy equipment required to remove the debris. People are trapped, and many of those will die a painful, lonely, lingering death. The Red Cross has already run out of medical supplies. (For a more complete list of reputable aid organizations, check out this link). Anyway, if you have a couple of dimes that you can rub together... Oh man...

See you by those somber feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, I started this with the salutation of "friends". More about that in a moment...

About ten posts ago I promised that my 500th entry was going to be special. I couldn't decide whether it was going to be funny, or I'd spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get that "unique" photo, or what; I just wanted something special. Unfortunately, for reasons that will go without mention, I've been in a bit of a funk, and the 500th was no barn burner. Anyway, I've put a lot of thought into this, and I decided to uncork on the one subject I'd want to discuss with my close friends - that of our nation's economy. Yup, this is going to be one of those rare ones that doesn't involve birds; this will be one of our "coffee-table" chats. Now, take a look at the fellow below...

Cute little guy - he's just a few weeks old, but what does his future look like? In a word, his future looks "challenging", and here's why...

When you watch the news, all the talking heads and politicians will tell you that our national debt is around $12 trillion. At the same time, our gross domestic product (value of all goods and services and aka GDP) is around $14 trillion. But the story goes much, much further.

Our debt doesn't reflect the obligations of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Those costs dwarf our debt to the tune of at least $70 trillion. Check out David Walker below and keep in mind his credentials...

As if Mr. Walker wasn't frightening enough, that report was created back in the Bush era... After TARP, President Obama's Stimulus Bill, and who knows what, the total debt is mind numbing. Check out the U.S. National Debt Clock. Note at the bottom our total assets and unfunded liabilities. In short we owe more than we are worth, and unlike a citizen, the government can't sell off its property to make money to ease the situation. Typically, governments can only create money in one of five ways:

• Make war and take the other country's goods... (Not gonna happen...)
• Enter into some sort of profitable endeavor like Amtrak... (That didn't work out so well...)
• Borrow money... (We already owe China and Japan alone almost $2 trillion)
• Print money... (Inflation...)
• Tax... (To quote Nancy Pelosi speaking about President Obama, "There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail,")

Well, there go friend... My best analysis... And a word to the wise...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, to begin with, here is yet another incredibly boring snapshot from our backyard bird cam. (In the PM we call it Backyard Night Fishing aka BNF.) More about that in a minute...)

Sorry for the delay... Our Internet connection has been fussy to say the very least. Earlier today, we couldn't even connect to the Bank of America site. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I know it ain't on this end. We've had great connectivity to some of the Web, but not others segments. (The culprit probably is a server somewhere in East LoopDeeDoo Land... Having supported NT server for Microsoft for a year I understand the agonies of a downed server... Oh the horror... the horror...) Anyway, hopefully I can get this posted for all to see...

Anywho, back to the BNF... Right now it's 15 degrees F in Harwich, and that might account for the aforementioned poor BNF as well as the haphazard Internet connectivity. My guess is that technology doesn't like the cold any more than wildlife does.

What else? Oh yesss... I watched a fascinating crow behavior the other day... Normally, our feeders are too small to provide access to a large bird like a crow, but we installed a metal rod "arm" onto the side of the feeder post. In doing so we gave the creatures a rather awkward access to the feeder; and sure enough there was a corvid balanced on the rig scattering seed left and right. At first it appeared that he was only looking for choice tidbits, but in retrospect, there may have been a more social motive - his pals were on the ground below feasting away. Oh goody - we've got a bright social creature who's an acrobat to boot. I swear someone should sell tickets to this show called "Life"...

See you by the feeders if the creek doesn't rise and my Internet connection is willing,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Check this out...

So what's the story? Well, Mrs. CCA has to be out of town for a couple of days, and I asked that she keep an eye out for any sort of birds in the frigid Windy City. It wasn't long before she spotted these prints/lithographs above her hotel bed and used her cell phone to snap that shot. A little bit of research turned up the following:

• The originals were created by J. Smits
• They age back to the late 1800s
• The birds are (from left to right):
• Cyanoramphus Saisseti ("Red-crowned Parakeet" from New Zealand)
• Eclectus Riedel ("Reideli Electus Parrot" from Tanibar Island, Indonesia... Male is on top)
• Chrysotis Finschi ("Lilac-crowned Amazon Parrot" from NW and SW Mexico)

I don't know... It just seems like birds are more than everywhere, they're ever present.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Ah yes... Nothing like a frisky turkey video to start off a post and the new year. (Between three males and seven hens, we may be ankle deep in turkey guano come next Spring.) Fun to watch the "feather draggers" though.

Next on the agenda is a great depiction of what happens to the remains of "The Thumb-Ripping Mudbugs"...

I mean we've got spent shards of carapace flying every which way. What I didn't get (and there wasn't much), the herring gull desecrated. While the crows didn't quite know what to do with their "Cajun Surprise", the gulls did. (I like to think of them as chain saws with wings.)

So that's about it for our latest birding excitement... But what's next for 2010? Ohhh... In the past, the boss has asked that I think outside the box... Really let loose... Okayyy...

• We'll have BNF pictures to prove that not only does Bigfoot exist, but that he has a wee relative alive and well, right here on Cape Cod. And if that ain't enough, we'll even tell you the true story of our terrifying encounter with the thing!
• There will be a smokey and wine-filled interview with local legend and former selectman, "Da Gizz" (replete in his bathrobe and straw hat) who will describe his flying squirrel. You're gonna love this one...
• And who would miss the upcoming bird showtune(s), bird poems, bird carvings... And that's not to mention boat building and
bathroom remodeling...

See you by the feeders?

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)