In addition to attracting and benefiting birds in your yard through landscaping, gardening, and providing bird foods and fresh water – how do you appreciate the birds around you and how do the birds benefit you? Number one, birds teach us about birds – species by species – showing insights into their feeding preferences and other behaviors. They also lead us through the seasons as they suddenly reappear during migration stops, or arrive as summer or winter residents. Part of the fun of birding at home is to keep track of the birds you see, the species and numbers, the associated dates, significant behaviors, and plumage changes.
Just as the first birds are beginning to filter south from northern regions of North America, BirdCast is beginning its live 24-hour monitoring of bird migration across the continental United States by using impressive weather radar technology to provide birders with an exciting opportunity to literally watch bird migration live. In addition, BirdCast provides some interesting assessments of the previous night's migration details, including the timing, flight elevations, and species composition of migrating birds – county by county, state by state, across the Lower 48 States – plus there are bird migration forecasts and alerts!
To expand on the information provided daily via radar, BirdCast also provides a number of information sources that describe more insights into the process of monitoring bird migration while increasing our understanding of how birds migrate. The BirdCast Science Center provides a wealth of background information about Bird Migration, as well as Applications of Radar Technology, such as how radar data is turned into information that describes migrating bird numbers, flight directions, flight speeds, and migration altitudes to expand our understanding of migratory bird movements, especially at night.
It's always exciting to see new birds, especially when you can find them within 4 miles of home. Although Virginia Rails are not new-new, observing and photographing fledgling Virginia Rails foraging in and out of the cover of cattails in shallow water covered by duckweed was a new experience indeed. I don't see a Virginia Rail every summer in this area, and rarely see more than one, so this was a great sighting all-around to start the week. The young rails were very nervous, but didn't mind when I positioned and re-positioned, and while one was a little larger than the other, they kept aware of one another and the smaller one seemed to keep its distance from the other by 5 to 15 feet.
Birders are embracing the impressive optical qualities of Kowa XD Wide-Angle 8x42 Binoculars more each season, starting with their exceptionally wide field of view of 429 feet at 1,000 yards. That’s the best wide-angle performance among economically priced birding binoculars – and these Kowa Binoculars are on sale now with another $100 off the already low price. Kowa’s premium XD objective lenses are made of high-resolution Kowa Prominar ED (Extra-Low Dispersion) Glass that is made with increased levels of fluorite crystal, the best material available to provide enhanced light transmission to ensure quality birding views with edge-to-edge sharpness.
With great sale prices available on clothing and footwear now, Columbia is also presenting their new fall line of clothing and outdoor accessories including backpacks. Best known for their stylish, quality clothing for birding and other outdoor activities, the variety of Columbia's clothing and color options may be their biggest asset. During August, Columbia's long-sleeved shirts might be preferred to help protect you from sun and bugs, or to keep warmer on a cool morning or evening. Start with a look at the Men's Rapid Rivers Long Sleeve Shirt, available in 6 color patterns.
Providing a great way to organize your feeding station, the Duncraft 3-Hanger Feeding Station has 3 feeder hangers that can hold up to 5 pounds each, along with an attached ceramic birdbath and a seed tray that's included on the sectional black metal pole. Topped with a decorative finial, this feeding station frame has 2 anchored hangers on top with a third hanger that you can adjust to the height you prefer, which is also true for the adjustable birdbath and mesh tray so you can get the best views of birds that visit.
Under some circumstances, photographs can bring out an emotional response, and during the nesting season we have a chance to try to capture a poignant moment or moments between adult pairs, or between an adult and a hatchling or nestlings. Like art, photographs can create a level of interpretation, but the first step is to actually get into a position where we can attempt to take the kind of photo that everyone reacts to in some way. In my area, grebes are a good bet to produce an intimate interaction when newly hatched downy young enter the scene, attended by adults fulfilling a new parental role.
Just 3 miles south of home, a number of tiny down-covered Eared Grebes were being attended by adults last Sunday, and the windless morning provided a mostly calm water surface that was conducive for the nearly helpless new grebe hatchlings to follow an adult into a good foraging area. Positioned with the sun at my back, and the birds in front of me, there were no shadows to contend with and the limited colors were illuminated in the best way. Even so, it took some time and patience to wait for the grebes to align as an adult surfaced with a tiny morsal of food and the downy hatchling peeped its food-begging calls in response. In a second, the moment was at hand and I made the most of the intimate interaction with my camera.
Of course, I took a number of grebe photographs that morning, but the above image stood out for its emotional value, and with that digital photograph selected I cropped it in an elongated manner with plenty of surrounding water to give viewers a sense of the open water view. That was the first presentation step; and to emphasize the image and any emotions it might evoke, I limited this Bird Photography feature to a single photograph, without the distraction of “the next photo,” or even the usual photo caption. So please take a little extra time for a second look at this classic photo of the late nesting season, and think about where you might be able to take an interactive photo that emotes a bit of emotion.
