Beautiful creatures... they truly are. But note the toes and claws - not things to be taken lightly. This one by the way is just one of a rafter of seven that visit us almost on a daily basis. (Did you know that Ben Franklin preferred the turkey over the eagle as our national bird? Here is a link to a fascinating letter Franklin wrote to his daughter in 1784 arguing his case. The only input I might add is that a person doesn't have to be dressed in red to be attacked by one of these monsters.)

The next bit of business is a particularly silly USB experiment... Mrs. CCA and I got to wondering why the max USB cable length was only apx. 16 feet. (I'd looked at a ton of Web sites and got conflicting info. The issue seemed to be that of signal delay vs. signal deterioration. We figured that if we could get our cheap but colorful USB cam out back by the feeders, well then we'd really be "cammed up and streamin' large". After all, we could live with delay as long as the signal quality didn't suffer.) Sooo... We bought five sixteen footers and hooked them all together for a total of 80 feet.

(Why is it that you just know that this ain't going to happen?) And not happen it did. The computer wouldn't even boot. My guess is that the added resistivity of all those cables flummoxed the USB port, which in turn yacked at the initial hardware portion of the PC's boot sequence. We unplugged the mess and hooked it back to the way it was with the single short cable and all was well again... Sigh... And that leads us to the screen shot of the two cams below...

The live streaming puppy on the left is our eBirdseed.com bird cam. The one on the right is our front lawn USB cam. (If only we could have gotten the latter out back and outdoors... Dang!) Anywho, it's late now, and those cameras offer strange company. (Ok, so the USB rascal ain't exactly enthralling in the PM with the shade down and a motionless note.) But the one on the left is ghostly in its camaraderie. It's almost as if a creature will come hulking out of the woods in the background. Did you ever see the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"?

Hmmm... That's enough for tonight...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/turkey_usb_experiment_and_cam.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/turkey_usb_experiment_and_cam.html Backyard Sanctuary Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:06:31 -0600 Forgive me if I can't be too peppy when writing about birds right now... As you no doubt know, there was a mass shooting at Fort Hood yesterday... and by an officer no less. If the motive is anything like the one Hasan Akbar had, I hope the verdict is the same as Akbar's - death.

Onward...

I guess the least I can do is provide a decent bird pic...

That's a nice photograph of a catbird that was taken last summer... At the time, we had been working out in the yard and some of the birds (including the fellow above) decided that we were no great threat. So at one point, Mrs. CCA pretty much walked up to the creature and took the picture. (BTW... We usually try to stay away from the birds for a couple of reasons... First, they are wild animals and can be dangerous. And secondly, whenever wild things become too complacent around humans, the critters are at risk.)

Onward yet again...

Believe it or not, the 2010 Cornell "Great Backyard Bird Count" is not that far away! So mark your calendars for Feb. 12 -15, 2010 and tell all your friends, co-workers, relatives... It's free, fast, and fun. Last year, I entered early and "won" a nice bird poster. (BTW... In general, the Cornell Web site is a treasure trove of birding info including insight for backyard birders. Use the link above or the ones below to check it out.)

Before I sign off, just a heads up concerning the weather here. It's raining, and that means that our streaming Web cams are going to be blurry. One cam is indoors...

Free video streaming by Ustream

And the other is outdoors and protected under glass here. Somehow I'm going to have to figure out a better system.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/fort_hood_and_backyard_bird_co.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/fort_hood_and_backyard_bird_co.html Backyard Sanctuary Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:08:21 -0600 First things first... I ain't a bad guy. I'm not perfect, but I'm not a brute or a politician or anything nasty like that. I'll take a lot and won't react, but there are two things I will not tolerate... Physical attacks on my family, and attacks on me and mine on my property. Anyway... Take a look at the fellow below:

I'd tried to give this gobbler and his buddies time enough to eat and move on. Indeed, I thought they were gone when I went out to re-fill the crow tray with frozen sausage. Surprise! Two of the Toms charged me from out of the woods. I guess it was a territorial thing. Regardless, it was a huge mistake on the birds' part. (When I was a kid, we raised chickens, and I was attacked by a rooster. My damages were minimal, but my mother got slashed in the legs trying to protect me. Needless to say, when my father saw the wounds, we ate chicken for several nights after the event.) Anywho... I had the frozen sausages and they didn't and a firm underhand toss from three feet resulted with a thump on a birdie chest and a re-think of the entire battle plan. "Retreat!" said turkeys, "Damn the sausages... Full speed reverse!" In a way, it was almost comical... Nobody got hurt, and hopefully, the birds earned a bit more respect for bipeds. But imagine if a child was out playing... This ain't no game.

Onward...

Once the turkeys decided that there were other "less-confrontational" yards and moved on, the regulars returned. I wish I had a better photo of the image below...

Man, that's such a sight.

Before I sign off, check out this YouTube Web site of Mahalia Jackson. Wow... Just wow... Music to lay your weary head down by.

See you by those brawling yet typically peaceful feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/turkey_attack_flicker_and_maha.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/turkey_attack_flicker_and_maha.html Backyard Sanctuary Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:36:48 -0600 Mrs. CCA took the week off and was determined to get in some serious nature outing... (King of the world Ma! Just look at that convoluted sentence!) Anywho... Picking up on the theme of amateur ornithology we started long ago, here's a bit more on primary bird feathers. First is the crow...

Next is a mallard drake...

Cool beans or what? Look at the shadow of the primaries on the duck's chest!

These snapshots were the result of a couple of days of "naturing". The first day, Mrs. CCA hit the Bank St. bogs and caught some fine Fall photographs, but it wasn't until she got home that she snapped the crow. The second image has a slightly longer story... Determined to make her "vaca day" a ringer we set out towards Brewster and Orleans. We found the end of Portanimicut Rd. and a congregation of ten ducks. With camera batteries already running low, she managed to capture the mallard. But the cool part was just tooling around the Cape in late October. We hit Rock Harbor, route 6A, Goose Hummock Sports Shop, and best of all "Land Ho!", a local cape eatery and landmark. (If you ever are on Cape Cod, you need to check out the killer burgers at Land Ho!)

Let's see... What else... Oh yeah... Halloween was eventful in a truly sinister way. As darkness was finally anchored, I looked out the picture window and spotted a large creature ambling down the road right under the street light in front of the house. I muttered a series of "uh oh's" and the wife rushed over to see what the problem was. Problem indeed. The coyote/wolf was huge. I saw it for the longest period of time - maybe 15 seconds. It most definitely wasn't a dog, but its hind legs sort of drooped like a shepard. I'd put the weight in the 50 pound range... I thought about calling the police in the hope that they could shine a spotlight on it and scare it away, but it was gone within seconds. (BTW... You don't see many pets running free on Cape Cod for a reason... Word to the wise.) Anyway, no one got mauled, but there's a lesson there - as we as a culture do more and more to protect wildlife, the outdoors becomes more and more wild. Let's be careful out there...

Gotta run,

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/outing_and_primary_bird_feathe.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/11/outing_and_primary_bird_feathe.html Educational Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:00:04 -0600 Man the weather has been stormy... (Read that, "Fantastic for clamming!") Unfortunately, it hasn't been fantastic for outdoor cams. If you've been trying to tune in to the eBirdseed.com bird cam, you haven't seen much beside what it looks like to be high and dry inside a blurry plastic bag looking out at a wet world. Now where's the fun in that? Anywho, Mrs. CCA came up with the brilliant work around of an olive jar... Should the clime turn ugly, we'll just plop said jar over the cam and keep on truckin'. Who woulda thunk?

Other stuff... For some reason, it looks like our birds have been way off the seed lately. Not sure what that is all about. Though the weather has been wet, it hasn't been too cold - maybe that's why. Then again, I watched what I thought (think?) was a hawk swoop by today, so perhaps hunger is the better part of valor.

Some time ago, one of our readers asked for more input on bird behavior... Well, here we go... While I'm no ornithologist (or any other "ist" for that matter), we have noticed one completely chilling tendency amongst the crows - that of watching us when it comes to food and eating. Earlier, I put out some old bread, and the corvids seemed appeased. Yet when we laid out our own Chinese food in the living room, the appeasement went south fast. The little dickens ignored the bread and instead glared at our MSG Special. (Oh great! Now we have crows with high blood pressure issues.) But this is no joke... It wasn't until it became apparent that we didn't have an extra pair of chopsticks that the crows went back to their bread. Remember... We're dealing with a 5th-grade mentality here... Oh goody...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/uncooperative_cape_cod_weather.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/uncooperative_cape_cod_weather.html Backyard Sanctuary Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:56:05 -0600
Thought you might be interested in checking out a new streaming cam feed we've just learned about.

Remember that cheapie Chinese video cam we wrote about earlier this month? We discovered that it could be used as a streaming web cam as well, so we're testing it out as a secondary "spot" cam for the yard. Currently it is sitting in our computer room, focused out the front window toward the road. Not a lot of bird action, but we do see an occasional crow hop by in search of bugs and roadkill.

Free video streaming by Ustream

As we iron out the bugs on this one (and get a longer cable, as Mrs. CapeCodAlan will no longer allow USB cable taped across her kitchen floors and counters), we'll be giving updates, and if all works well, we may use this one to broadcast Squirrel-palooza.

And speaking of Squirrel-palooza, we are doing a dry run before the live broadcast, and are pleased to announce that watching squirrels try to eat corn off a cob attached to a bungee cord is as much fun as watching hundreds of circus clowns come pouring out of a tiny car. In fact, it's freakin' hilarious.

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

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eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/new_streaming_camera_test.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/new_streaming_camera_test.html Backyard Sanctuary Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:59:19 -0600 It struck me the other day that those new to backyard birding and this blog might not be familiar with our two seed charts... These charts can help you decide what feed goes with what critter. Well, here's the first and second of the two.

Onward...

Now about that pesky bird cam... From the technical/electronic/computer/Web side of things, the bugger is working like a champ. Trying to keep it dry on the other hand has become a "Kludge Extraordinaire". The weather simply will not cooperate...

Yesterday, in a fit of "git 'er done!" I decided to simply embed the cam in a clear plastic tube and put that out in the wilds. One end was sealed, and the other sheltered the camera all the while giving the gadget all the light it could possibly want. Using the picture below and a little imagination, you can probably see the game plan. (Note that I've included the little Cobra USB video cam just to provide some perspective, and maybe even give a hint as to a future project.)

Unfortunately, the game plan went belly up because the plastic tube won't hold the requisite dab of epoxy needed to hold the current cam in place. So much for the brilliant but doomed "Git 'Er Done!". (Time for the "Acme Son of Git 'Er Done Kit!" I didn't watch all those cartoons for nothing...) So for the moment, the cam continues to be a fair-weather friend; and if you tune in and see darkness, that probably means that it's raining here on Cape Cod.

Onward yet again...

Stumbled across an absolute killer kitchen concoction the other day - this one involving pork tenderloin... Here's how to make it happen...

1. Get all the appropriate cooking gear... Crock pot, cooking thermometer, blah, blah, blah...
2. Buy a quality one pound pork tenderloin in a heavy air-tight bag. We use "Swift Premium All Natural". Also, pick up a large potato, a white onion, some carrots, and celery. Finally, snag a packet of "Crockery Gourmet Seasoning for Pork" by Superior Touch... And if you have a problem with salt, stop reading now.
3. Freeze the pork for several days.
4. Defrost the meat in the frig. (My theory is that the crystallization of the freezing process causes the pork to tenderize a bit.)
5. Clean work area.
6. Put pork in crock pot with peeled, diced potatoes, seasoning (directions call for two cups of water), and half the onion sliced.
7. Cook until the internal temp of the meat reaches at least 160 degrees F. (The lowest safe temperature for pork.)
8. Finally, dump in the carrots and celery and let simmer until the meat reaches 190 degrees. (Yeah, I know, I'm over-cooking the pork... Far better safe than sorry.)
9. Enjoy as part "meat and veggies dish" and part stew. And the next day, it only gets better.

Gotta' run... See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/seed_chart_cam_update_and_pork.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/seed_chart_cam_update_and_pork.html Backyard Sanctuary Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:01:51 -0600 First, here's a video we just made of grackles doing their very best trying to re-create Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". This is an unusually long video (apx. 10 minutes) and the camera gets shifted a bit in the process, but IMHO worth the view. Note how even the crows complain because they can't get to their standard buffet tray. Good to see at one point where "Don" the squirrel sends them scattering... I'm pretty sure red-wings are in the mob somewhere, not that that really helps any...

I don't know about you, but that just gives me the creeps. It also makes me worry about birdseed consumption and the grackles scaring away other birds. Not too much to be done I guess. Besides, with that kind of food source, it's only a matter of time before a hawk takes care of the problem for us. And on another front, we have the outdoor streaming cam hanging tough for 35 hours plus...

That's not bad considering that I'm streaming off an old tired AMD machine and that the video server service (CamStreams) often gets hammered... I guess the next hurdle will be to build a water-tight enclosure that will meet the following requirements:

• protect the camera
• be truly weather-proof under all conditions here on stormy Cape Cod
• be optically perfect in normal weather, and acceptable in inclement weather
• not diminish the light reaching the lens any more than necessary

I gotta tell you... Part of me wants to go with one of those water-proof camera bags, and the other part wants to build a shelter from scratch - something that would be more or less open yet still be buttoned up should things turn ugly... Hmmm...

I'll be mulling this stuff over by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/hitchcock_grackles_and_the_cam.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/hitchcock_grackles_and_the_cam.html Audio Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:12:15 -0600 First off, check out our feeders at night. The top photo is that of a raccoon feasting. I give these guys an extraordinarily wide berth if for no other reason than rabies shots sound painful...

The next is a screen grab of our streaming Web cam. Obviously, no birds, but it has been action packed during the daytime. (Kind of meditative in a funny sort of way.)

And that leads us to our upcoming "Squirrel-Palooza"! This will be one of our live, free, stupid, gotta-do-it-for-the-good-of-the-soul events. What we'll do is tether a number of ears of corn off the ground via a bungee cord and then wait for the velociraptors, squirrels to descend and attack the bouncing maize. I'll set up the live cam, Twitter (CapeCodAlan) the start of the insanity, and you can watch the rodents go bonkers.

Of course, this doesn't have to be our only "Palooza" extravaganza. No... Not even close. Now that we can move the camera around the yard at will, we can have live stuff like "Crow-with-Popcorn-Palooza" and even "Big Foot-Palooza". Just be afraid.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/feeders_at_night_and_squirrel-.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/feeders_at_night_and_squirrel-.html Backyard Sanctuary Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:01:43 -0600 Well, we've got our second nor' easter, and judging by the disapproving looks on the two below, they ain't too happy about the weather...

And this is what the weather looks like:

Let's see... What else?

We got a new shepherd's crook for the web cam. More details and photos to follow concerning that... (Speaking of which, the storm has forced our camera into yet another bag and inside our grill for cover... I'll think of something.)

Looks like bird maven David Sibley has taken on another saga - that of cataloging trees. That should be a boon to naturalists as well as those who dwell in the woodworking and boatbuilding industries... (See also: Identifying Wood by R. Bruce Hoadley.)

Finally, there's "parahawking"... (I just report this stuff...)

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/birds_in_the_rain.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/birds_in_the_rain.html Backyard Sanctuary Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:36:22 -0600 Yup, we got clocked pretty good with a storm over the last couple days. Lots of wind and lots of rain... Our little streaming cam got knocked for a loop. While I kept the video camera itself dry under a plastic bag, the rest of the system pretty much got obliterated. Between the outdoor cable being soaked and the router suffering umpteen brown outs, about the best our setup could do was provide a pure white feed. What to do? How to troubleshoot? Well... First let's back up and look at the rig...

That is how we've got the beast configured... Step by step, let's see if we can't make sense of the whole thing and find the problem...

1. First, the web signal comes off the street from the "Web Cloud" on the left to the cable modem and on to the router which in turn hands it off to the "main PC" via a hard wire... So far, so good... We've got web connectivity at that PC. (Remember, when you broadcast a cam stream, you're basically "offering it up" to a broadcaster like CamStreams. If you have low-level web functionality problems, the broadcaster will never be able to reach your stream. Period.)
2. But the router does more then just "re-route" the signal back to the main PC... It broadcasts it to all the other machines on the network via the airwaves. That was working too, since the other computers were "internet happy" including the one handling the webcam.
3. So what's left? Well, a few things... Maybe the converter that massaged the analog signal coming off the video into a good ol' digital USB was kerflooky... Maybe the cam itself had turned turtle... Maybe the CamStreams broadcasters were having a bad day... Maybe the settings used to hand off the signal to CamStreams (port forwarding) were kattywumpus... How to tell??? Uncle Fester, it's really just a matter of a process of elimination...
4. I more or less ruled out the converter because it seems to be a sturdy piece of innocuous hardware.
5. Could it be that the camera itself had taken leave of this earth? Nope. I hooked it up to a regular TV and it held its own.
6. Other folks were broadcasting on CamStreams, so that wasn't an issue.
7. If the port forwarding was in a backlash, I couldn't send anything over the net... And yet I was - though it was a nice white signal.

But that's the point of this post... If you really want a web site or a blog with a cam (or whatever), just do it! Sure there will be hurdles, but so long as you have a backup of all your data, the world won't end. It might grow mighty irksome for a time, but it won't end... What's that? Have a USB cam? Look here. You only want sound? Look here? Want instruction on web photography? Look here...

The truth is that no one can give you micro-step by micro-step solutions, and these can only be starting points... But if you're prepared, stop sitting on your hands and jump right in... Nor' Easter or not!

Very proactive by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/nor_easter_and_more_cam_info.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/nor_easter_and_more_cam_info.html Bird Cam Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:08:11 -0600 Thought I'd take a bird break and wander back through the dusty vaults of yore...

This shot (and the others that follow) was/were taken at Paddock's Pond just a quarter mile from here. It was a great place to experience "kid-dom", and I experienced the "be jeepers" out of the place, frogs and all.

As you can tell from that shot from the wife's kayak, it's pretty much just a mud hole. But it was and is a pretty mud hole. Some of my earliest memories are of fishing Paddock's. In later years it was a great place to learn to skate, have bonfires, boat, and talk about girls. (While drowning was always a possibility, it never really was a likelihood in that most of the pond was waste deep. However, the muck on the bottom was something right out of a Tarzan movie, and was to be avoided at almost any cost. And speaking of that muck, there's a great story that involves a sinking boat, my best buddy and I, beer, night, hysterical teenage laughter, and the Harwich Police Department... But that tale is for another time.)

Here is a shot of the mud in warmer weather. (As it heats up, the gasses in the goo expand, and for a month or two an island is born.) Obviously, the gull and the merganser didn't seem to have a problem with their own nasty little Atlantis.

Finally, there is this...

Don't quite know how to explain the beauty. Probably a "Monet Lily Pad" sort of thing. Still astoundingly beautiful... If I were to try to paint it, I think I'd go with watercolors and name it "Necco Wafers and Reeds on Glass". Ummm... And on that note...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/frogs_and_other_dusty_stuff.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/frogs_and_other_dusty_stuff.html Backyard Sanctuary Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:57:40 -0600

You know, winter is coming, and that means quahogging (clamming for all you non Cape Codders). But you can't just venture out onto the sleet-whipped mud flats without the proper gut fuel. Hence the pic above. Have some steak along with a couple of slabs of Pam-splashed liver sealed in a tightly crimped pocket of aluminum foil. (Focus on that foil... Be careful when you pull that over-cooked puppy off the grill. Twenty to thirty minutes of medium heat and a couple of flips will yield scalding steam and liver juices in that little silver bag! Jiffy Pop, eat your heart out.) Yeah, combine that with a nuked coffee mug half filled with lima beans and you're talking the stuff that will put fur on your eyeballs and fear in the hearts of bivalves. (The liver is even better/"more potent" the next day when served refrigerator-cold in a slurry of those same lima beans and "A.1." steak sauce... That's a Mrs. CCA favorite!)

Anyway, back to birds...

Lots of activity over the last few days - the usual suspects of chickadees, titmice, crows, grackles, doves, etc. The cameras are going full bore...

"Neato" shot of a downy, no?

It's interesting to watch how the various birds deal with the NovaBird camera and tripod. (We essentially hid the small Hawk Eye streaming cam on a shepard's crook and wrapped it with green Christmas garland so that isn't so much of an issue.) The woodpeckers are pretty much indifferent to the Nova, whereas the other birds are skittish, and the crows really want nothing to do with it. Obviously, it's going to take time to figure out exactly what makes all beasties comfortable.

Getting late...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/jiffy_pop_liver_birds_etc.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/jiffy_pop_liver_birds_etc.html Backyard Sanctuary Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:20:20 -0600 Thought we'd leave the streaming cam stuff alone for a while and move on to more mundane pursuits: possums and wabbits.

Looks like we now have a regular customer...

Yeah, he's cute, but he's still a wild animal and we give him plenty of berth. Ditto for the fellow below...

Aside from our new (or newly discovered) night visitors, there ain't a terrible amount different here... The crows continue to demand food (preferably old cold cuts)... The Hummingbirds are at long last gone from Cape Cod... It's hard to see the doves amongst the fallen leaves... Now is a good time to start thinking about winter (clean gutters, arrange for snow removal, insulate windows, brew beer, have furnace serviced, change oil in car, blah, blah, blah)... Day to day...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Just checked out back... A raccoon is feasting on spilled seeds... Let's be careful out there.

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/possum_etc_in_the_backyard.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/possum_etc_in_the_backyard.html Video Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:46:57 -0600 Sorry to keep harping on this subject, but it is a fascinating one, and has reaped some remarkable benefits even at this early stage of the project life. (The first night the cam was up, we caught a possum in our yard... I haven't seen one of those in a long time.)

Maybe this is a good time to discuss more of the technical minutia, but this time in reverse. (Figures...)

• Let's start with the matter of the end result.

  

  Now that's not bad. (My "Print Screen" was blurred by the creature's rapid movement.) As for the gray scale, I was hoping for more color, but I can live with it. I'll need to fuss with the focus, but even at this preliminary stage, I can tell that I'm looking at a female downy. I got to watch her eat and fly... Very cool for a simple guy. Back when I spent a decade in a cubicle, that sort of real-time imagery from my very own back yard would have been very comforting indeed. If you want a better picture quality, the hardware is out there, but it leaps out of the $100 - $200 range fast.

• Backing away from the lens, right now I've simply got the cam on a tripod, and that no doubt ain't making the birds happy happy joy joy.

  

  I guess my long-term goal is to take out one of the trees in the background of the picture on the left, cut it to about six feet in length, and mount it on a plywood base. I could use that as a sort of natural, non-threatening, portable camera stand.

• Moving even further back in this scheme was the issue of port forwarding. I spoke to that briefly in the last post, but here is a bit more detail... In order to stream a video signal onto the Web, you have to offer up that signal to a dedicated service (we use CamStreams) and of course that service needs to know where the signal is coming from. As our vid was coming through a router which keeps track of our network gadgets (the geek phrase is "IP addresses"), we had to find some way to uniformly hand over our signal to CamStreams. That uniform hand off is known as port forwarding and basically lets our camera "yell" at CamStreams in just the perfect way so that CamStreams can relate.
• Unraveling the plan yet more... If you choose to go the route of an analog camera (which I did), how do you make it create a digital signal that a computer can understand in the first place? Well, you buy a thing-a-ma-bob that does the conversion. But you have to be careful to buy the right thing-a-ma-bob for your camera. (USB cams basically have the converter thing-a-ma-bob built right in. The problem with USB devices is that they suffer from a very limited cable range - something on the order of 20'. Our analog camera will handle up to 1,000', which leads us to the great summary.)

I'll be honest... This is not the easiest of projects, even with a USB cam (let alone my analog rig). It takes time, research, lots of notes, and the expectation that there will be hurdles. (I didn't mention static IP, fussy AV, or firewall exceptions to name just a few.) But if you're the kind of technically-adequate person who can set a goal, and then move towards that goal in a systematic fashion, this is completely "doable".

Maybe see you by the feeders Cecil B...

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam ]]> http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/yet_another_update_on_the_ebir.html http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/2009/10/yet_another_update_on_the_ebir.html Backyard Sanctuary Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:43:12 -0600