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Author Archives: Mark

Bird Feeder Poll Results

January 15, 2009 – 9:31 am

A few weeks ago I posted a poll asking  how many bird feeders people had.  We’ve had 8 responses (7 in addition to our own) so far and once again Pam and I have some work to do!

Bird Feedin’ Maniacs

I thought we were doing pretty good with having four feeders in our yard.  It turns out that we had the fewest!  Here’s how things break down so far:

  • Four Feeders                    1 (that’s us)
  • Seven or More                 3 (These were before I added more options so      some of these might have much more than 7 feeders!)
  • Seven to Ten                    3
  • Sixteen or More              1 (I think I know who you are but I won’t tell :-) )

Frankly, I’m impressed.  There are some serious bird feeding people out there.  I’m sure the birds appreciate it!

I’ll keep the survey open so new readers who find the post can add to it.

Keep Participating

Thanks to all of you who read the blog and participate in the polls.  I enjoy seeing the results and I hope you do as well.  If you haven’t responded to the latest poll “Where do you buy your birdseed” please do.  We’re getting a little more participation with this one so weigh in if you haven’t yet.

Posted in Polls and Surveys | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Pine Warbler At The Feeder

January 10, 2009 – 6:47 pm

This evening, right before darkness settled in, a Pine Warbler came to our feeders.  I’ve seen it a few times in our front yard but not at the feeders before.  Pam has seen it a few times (early morning) on the feeder.

I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures hoping one of them would be OK.  I didn’t have the tripod so I braced myself on the desk in the upstairs office.  This was the best of 5 that I took:

Pine Warbler At Feeder

There is a lot of noise in the picture, due to the low light I suppose, but at least you can see what the bird is.

This makes 10 or 15 species I have photographed at the feeders.  I enjoy trying to photograph the birds in our backyard.  I really would like to improve the quality of the pictures but I think I will need to get a decent spotting scope and good camera adapter to do much better.  We’ll see, maybe sometime later this year we can get a spotting scope and try “digiscoping”.

What kind of camera setups do you use to take nature/bird photos.  Any suggestions for affordable setups that work well?

Posted in Bird Pictures | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Where Do You Buy Your Bird Seed

January 9, 2009 – 11:12 am

Just in time for the weekend, here’s another exciting survey to complete.

Bird Seed Ain’t Cheap

Since we started feeding the birds with more regularity we have seen our “seed budget” increase quite a bit.  One thing is for sure, bird seed is expensive!  To keep from going broke we’ve been scouring the different places to buy seed to see if we can get quality seed at a little lower price. That got me thinking (always a dangerous thing), where do all the other big time backyard bird feeder types get their seed from?

After the last poll, How Many Bird Feeders Do You Have (final results soon), I know some of you must be buying a lot of seed since you have over 7 feeders in your yard!  So, go ahead and complete this little survey and then, if you don’t mind,  tell us in the comments where you have found the best bird seed deals.  Maybe we can help each other save a little $$$ by sharing our favorite bird seed buying places.

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Posted in Polls and Surveys | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Is The iPod touch The Perfect Birding Tool

January 6, 2009 – 6:20 pm
1st Generation iPod Touch

Image via Wikipedia

To me, birdwatching and technology seem like a perfect match.  It seems that I am not the only one to realize this.  There are many tools available to the tech inclined birder.  Over the last couple of weeks I have joined that group with the purchase of an iPod touch.  Based on my initial experience with it, I have to wonder if the iPod touch could be just about the perfect birding tool.

A Music Player And Much More

The primary reason I got the iPod, at least at the beginning, was to upgrade my 4 year old mp3 player.  But when I was researching the options the touch stood out as a way to do much more than just play music.  With a decent sized screen and wifi I quickly saw the touch as a way to have  a portable computer capable of accessing the internet while on the road (at least wherever there is free wifi).  Then I saw that there were a number of birding applications that could be used on the touch, including birdJam and iBird Explorer.  That was all it took, I decided to get an iPod touch 16 GB (1st Generation).
.

Loading It Up

I purchased birdJam and loaded it up on the touch along with a bunch of music and I still had plenty of room left.  So, I decided to get iBird Explorer from the iTunes store (the full version was $19.95) and install it as well.  I now had a comprehensive list of 800+ North American birds along with their songs available to me instantly.  There is some duplication between the two applications when it comes to songs but that’s OK.  I bought iBird more for the pictures and search features than the songs. I’ve had some time to play around with both applications and I’m impressed so far.  I’ll do a more extensive review in a later post once Pam and I have actually used it in the field.  Stay tuned for those…

Accessorizing

I want to protect my investment from scratches, drops, etc.  So I purchased a Marware Sport Grip Backwinder Case for iPod touch 1G (Clear).  There are a ton of other choices as well for protective cases.  At some point I will also want to get an “all in one” case/speaker to take the touch in the field with us.  So far the iMainGo2 Portable iPod Speaker System and Case is the top candidate.  It acts as a protective case as well as a high quality, portable speaker system, all in one compact package.  It has gotten good reviews from other iPod toting birders.

The Future Of Birding

Are devices such as the iPod touch, iPhone, and other compact multi-function electronics the future of birding?   They certainly seem to be making inroads and I think they will only gain in popularity, especially for younger and/or newer birders who aren’t intimidated with technology or set in their birdwatching ways.  There seem to be many advantages to having an electronic directory right in the palm of your hand.  New applications should be coming along soon as well.   For example, iBird Explorer is looking to add observation logging capability that will allow you to upload your bird checklists to your e-bird account.  Only time will tell how these tools are accepted by the birding community but my guess is that the impact will be significant.

As for us, we will report our experiences with our iPod touch in the field as soon as we get some time.

Do you use an iPod or similar device in your birding?  How do you like it?  Tell us about those experiences in the comments.

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Posted in Birdwatching Software and Tools | Tagged , , | Comments (17)

Attack of The Pine Siskin

January 3, 2009 – 11:25 am

It is a rainy, misty morning here in Atlanta.  Pam and I got up a little late and noticed a huge number of birds in the yard. We weren’t sure what they were but our thought is that they are Pine Siskin.  What do you think?

Swarming The Sweetgum

The birds were all over the seed pods of the big Sweetgum trees we have, hanging upside down on them and pecking away.  I tried to get some pictures but they were too far away and the camera didn’t focus too well, at least on full auto.  Then, all of a sudden they all flew to the platform feeder and began eating.  I managed to get a couple of pictures before they flew off.  Now the question is, what were they?

Bird Identification Time

Pam thought they might be Pine Siskin right off the bat.  I wasn’t so sure.  I uploaded the clearest picture I had to flickr.  here it is:

Pine Siskin? at the feeder

After looking at the picture and our Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America we both settled on them being Pine Siskin.

Are We Correct

What do you think?  Are these Pine Siskin, or maybe a bunch of Goldfinches?  They seem to have too much streaking on them to be Goldfinches.  But, we’ve only been birdirs for 4 weeks so we very easily could be wrong.   My guess is that once again, Pam’s intial guess is right and I was wrong (as usual) :-)

Posted in Bird Identification, Bird Pictures | Tagged , | Comments (17)
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