From way up north (in this case the Yukon) last week's bird was a Willow Ptarmigan. this week we'll drop about as far as we can go in the "Lower 48". Good luck and great birding!
From way up north (in this case the Yukon) last week's bird was a Willow Ptarmigan. this week we'll drop about as far as we can go in the "Lower 48". Good luck and great birding!
Yesterday I shot about 16 minutes of video, which was mostly just a nest cavity with little spurts of activity. This has been edited down to the video linked below, which is a little over 1.5 minutes. The Mountain Bluebird chicks are being fed by mom in the first segment (brief glimpse of a chick just before she arrives at about 5 seconds), then dad in the third. In the middle segment (which begins at about 35 seconds and ends at 1:20) it looks like one of the chicks is exercising its wings, the end of the wing visible fluttering about in the cavity. Things to listen for include a Grace's Warbler shortly after the beginning, then off and on throughout the clips (there's also a couple of occasional faint buzzes from a Western Wood-pewee in this segment). At about 27 seconds a Mountain Chickadee can be heard, faint Pygmy Nuthatches at about 48 seconds, Common Raven (clearly!) at about 1:07, and a Western Tanager just before the male shows up in the 3rd clip.
The audio file is about 3 minutes long, also starts with a Grace's Warbler, then some faint chirps from a Red Crossbill that are followed soon after by the same type of chirp, though much louder (at about 19 or 20 seconds). Beginning at around 1 minute the cacophony begins, with constant bantering among the crossbills for the next 2 minutes, increasing at about the 2 minute mark. This actually goes on for nearly 6 minutes total in my raw file, but I think you'll more than get the picture in 3 minutes. There are other bird sounds mixed in, especially the Grace's.
For the Mountain Bluebird video (Flash, 11 megs) click here . . .
To listen to the Red Crossbills (.mp3, 3 megs) click here . . .
The audio file is about 3 minutes long, also starts with a Grace's Warbler, then some faint chirps from a Red Crossbill that are followed soon after by the same type of chirp, though much louder (at about 19 or 20 seconds). Beginning at around 1 minute the cacophony begins, with constant bantering among the crossbills for the next 2 minutes, increasing at about the 2 minute mark. This actually goes on for nearly 6 minutes total in my raw file, but I think you'll more than get the picture in 3 minutes. There are other bird sounds mixed in, especially the Grace's.
For the Mountain Bluebird video (Flash, 11 megs) click here . . .
To listen to the Red Crossbills (.mp3, 3 megs) click here . . .
So Wednesday, after shooting video of the bluebirds, Roxy and I set out for the south end of the Paunsaugant Plateau in the Dixie National Forest. I took both the still and video cameras, but really enjoy video and did that for the most part. I've edited things down, but still have over 6 minutes, so decided it was best to split things up into separate clips. You'll find a couple of birds (and lots of bird song in the background), butterflies, a certain dog we know, and more. Enjoy!
For Part 1 click here . . .
For Part 2 click here . . .
(Pt. 1 is a little over 11 megs, Pt. 2 just over 14 megs - Flash Video format.)
For Part 1 click here . . .
For Part 2 click here . . .
(Pt. 1 is a little over 11 megs, Pt. 2 just over 14 megs - Flash Video format.)
Last week we had a juvenile Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor). This week we're going north to test your skills. Good luck and great birding.
Spent some time before heading out into the forest this morning shooting video of the Mountain Bluebirds feeding their chicks at the nest cavity in a snag 100 feet or so from my little home here. Had to turn up the audio levels to be able to here them begging so, unfortunately, there's some unwanted ambient noise in the background. Just a little over two minutes, including a little segment of the female flying away in slow motion - she's carrying a fecal sac, too.
(Requires the Adobe Flash Player on your computer; file size is about 14 megs.)
(Requires the Adobe Flash Player on your computer; file size is about 14 megs.)
The Astronomy Festival last week created a little havoc with my work schedule and I went seven straight days without a day off. By the end of all that, I was tired. The fact that 4 of those 7 days were during the festival and I never hit the sack before 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. - way past my normal bedtime - helped with wearing me out. I can take those late nights here and there, but 4 in a row was tough and then we had small post-festival night sky party on Sunday night for a few members of staff only. Skies were mixed during the festival: Two were pretty cloudy, the other two were clear but with a lot of moisture in the air (especially Saturday).
Sunday the air was dry without a single cloud. Just above the southern horizon we used binoculars to look at Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest of the globular clusters that orbit the Milky Way Galaxy. We looked at a lot of different objects once the evening twilight disappeared, but the real highlight for me was peering into a portion of the Virgo (galaxy) Cluster. The section we were looking at contained two Messier objects, galaxies M84 and M86, the two brightest in that particular region of the cluster. But there were another SIX in the same field of view. M86 is about 52 million light years away, while M84 is about 60 million. All in all it was a fantastic evening, seeing galaxies and nebulae with far greater detail than I have ever seen before (it doesn't hurt that some of the staff and volunteers have huge telescopes I can only dream of owning . . . ).
Today I'm packing a lunch, loading up Roxy, and going to roam out in the forest looking for birds, butterflies, and wildflowers. I'll let you know if we find anything of interest.
Sunday the air was dry without a single cloud. Just above the southern horizon we used binoculars to look at Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest of the globular clusters that orbit the Milky Way Galaxy. We looked at a lot of different objects once the evening twilight disappeared, but the real highlight for me was peering into a portion of the Virgo (galaxy) Cluster. The section we were looking at contained two Messier objects, galaxies M84 and M86, the two brightest in that particular region of the cluster. But there were another SIX in the same field of view. M86 is about 52 million light years away, while M84 is about 60 million. All in all it was a fantastic evening, seeing galaxies and nebulae with far greater detail than I have ever seen before (it doesn't hurt that some of the staff and volunteers have huge telescopes I can only dream of owning . . . ).
Today I'm packing a lunch, loading up Roxy, and going to roam out in the forest looking for birds, butterflies, and wildflowers. I'll let you know if we find anything of interest.
It all started yesterday morning when I thought I heard a noise that I didn't really want to hear. My suspicions were confirmed when I arrived home for my dinner break: Just across the fence separating the park from the national forest I was greeted by about 40 head of cattle. Just peachy. Though they cleared the area fairly quickly, this morning I knew they were still in the neighborhood since I had to listen to their obnoxious freakin' mooing interspersed among the bird songs.
And of course it will be some time before walking in the area they were in yesterday will be safe, since it is now almost certainly filled with "land mines". What's really sad is I don't think I've found a spot in the forest here on the plateau that didn't have "signs left behind" by cattle.
The crossbills were really chatty this morning, too. Would have been nice to record that, but, just as I decided to to get out the recording equipment, a very noisy ultralight began buzzing the park. Which is totally legal as long as they maintain a minimum altitude, but even at 500 feet they are extremely annoying.
And for Saturday morning it's an idiot out there ravaging the forest landscape with a 2-wheeled, unmuffled and drowning out the birds "off-highway vehicle". Oh well.
On a more positive note, even though the weather hasn't exactly been the best, I made a few images this week.
And of course it will be some time before walking in the area they were in yesterday will be safe, since it is now almost certainly filled with "land mines". What's really sad is I don't think I've found a spot in the forest here on the plateau that didn't have "signs left behind" by cattle.
The crossbills were really chatty this morning, too. Would have been nice to record that, but, just as I decided to to get out the recording equipment, a very noisy ultralight began buzzing the park. Which is totally legal as long as they maintain a minimum altitude, but even at 500 feet they are extremely annoying.
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And for Saturday morning it's an idiot out there ravaging the forest landscape with a 2-wheeled, unmuffled and drowning out the birds "off-highway vehicle". Oh well.
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On a more positive note, even though the weather hasn't exactly been the best, I made a few images this week.
