Recently in Wildlife Video Category

While it certainly lacks the amount of splashing one might see when say, oh, a Robin takes a bath, this is how you "splish-splash" if you are a Rufous Hummingbird. The whole sequence is about 1.5 minutes long.

(Requires the Adobe Flash Player on your computer; file size is about 10 megs.)

Today is kind of gloomy and, though I wanted to shoot some still images again today, I don't like the look of flash photography for most wildlife and decided to shoot a little video instead. What you will find are some clips of Rufous Hummingbirds (watch for the male's yawn right after the beginning of the second clip during the title), Western Bluebirds, brief looks at a male Cassin's Finch and a Mountain Chickadee, and then some fun with a Yellow-rumped Warbler enjoying a bath (look for it flashing its little patch of yellow on the rump).

(Requires the Adobe Flash Player on your computer; file size is about 21 megs, total time just over 3 minutes.)

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 . . .

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.)

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.)

I haven't had a lot to say about birds here of late but, while it isn't quite Fall yet (though this morning's low was 28), birds are on the move around here. A new species for me about 10 days ago, paying a visit to the bird bath, was a couple of female Evening Grosbeaks. Oddly enough they appear on the 2000 species checklist for the park, but are absent from the 2006 revision. Hmmm, guess I'll have to fix that. Yesterday I found a pair of Orange-crowned Warblers near my place, and over the past several days quite a few Yellow-rumped Warblers moving through in basic (non-breeding) plumage.

Today was interesting finding 4 different raptors on the way to and at the reservoir: Golden Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, and Peregrine Falcon. But the real surprise was the pair of Greater White-fronted Geese mixed in among the hordes of Canada Geese. The Greater White-fronted is considered rare for the state and not listed on the Bryce Canyon checklist at all. I didn't have a still camera with me, but did get them on video. They were way out there, too, so the video ain't great but it is possible to see their orange feet and bills and other field marks.

I've been sitting on this one for a couple of weeks and had actually planned to upload this one when the badger came along last week. Roxy and I were on our way to the reservoir when we came upon a small (4 individuals) bachelor herd of Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). There was one who looked to have a well developed set of horns that you see first; the others all looked to be about the same age based upon the size of their horns. The latter part of the clip shows two of them in a little sparring match, preparing for the time when they, too, can challenge the big bucks for a chance at "gettin' the girl(s)".

(P.S. - If you would like to see what I've been up to lately - and the primary reason I've been ignoring the blog - some test files are here. They are Flash and will be revised somewhat before officially published in the next week or so - let me know what you think . . .)

(P.P.S. - I just learned something about the video player that, at least on my end, is only a problem with Firefox since IE and Opera do not display the player and you have to click a link to see it. And it may an issue with Safari and/or others on Macs, too. I'll have to try and figure it out but, for some reason and even though the links are all correct, the player wants to show the badger, the last video I posted, instead of the Pronghorn. If you click the "permalink" at the bottom of this entry it works correctly. This may explain what was happening with you and the badger last week, Lisa. Very strange, indeed, and surprising that I never noticed it before.)