Video Grabs and Backyard Digiscoping

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Last week Rex Rowan sent me a link to a terrific blog by Drew Weber on using the iPhones video feature to create still shots of those pesky moving birds.  You can read his blog here.  Inspired, I hauled my scope out to San Felasco Hammock (Progress Park) in Alachua, determined to get some video clips to experiment with.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a very birdy day.  Still, I had some luck.  I got some distant Robins grazing in a field.  Then I saw a very cooperative Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  Finally, I found a skulking Ovenbird and was able to get some fleeting shots.  Later in the afternoon I started working on creating some still shots.

I'll just say this ... I have a lot to learn.  I tried like heck to upload an eight-second video of the Sapsucker to this blog, but it crashed repeatedly.  However, I was able to insert the video grab I created using the iPhone's screen-capture feature.  Getting the perfect shot was a little hit-and-miss, but I think I can learn to manipulate the video as I get additional practice.

Downy Woodpecker

One of the things I learned from this process is that I still need a lot of work with my basic photography - I gotta walk before I can run.  So the next day I headed out to the backyard with my scope, iPhone, lawn chair and a cup of coffee.  I spent the next hour or two taking pictures of the birds that visited my feeders.  The Downy Woodpecker pictured at right practically cleaned out all of the Bark Butter, so the Red-bellied Woodpecker pictured below had little to eat.  Instead, he moved on to one of the suet feeders.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

I got lucky with both of the woodpecker photos.  I had already trained the scope on the feeder since I heard the woodpeckers in the tree above it.  By the way, the clarity of the two pictures is due to having focused the scope without using my glasses.  I noticed that focusing while wearing my glasses led to out-of-focus pictures.  So now I take them off to focus and the result is often a very sharp image.  Hence the bars on the underside of the Downy's tail, and the red tint on the breast and belly of the Red-bellied were both very clear.  So if you wear glasses and are having trouble getting your pictures in focus, try taking the glasses off.  It works.

Gray Catbird

All winter I've had a couple of Gray Catbirds hanging out in the yard.  They seem to be very fond of the suet I put out.  They also LOVE to take a good bath.  The bird pictured at right spent a little time checking out the surroundings before jumping into the bath for a good frolic.  Who knew gray and black could be so elegant looking?  And the rusty undertail coverts add just a splash of style.  The Catbird is another example of the beauty of nature captured in even the simplest of color palettes.

The most numerous bird at the feeders was the American Goldfinches.  They were everywhere, eating thistle and sunflower seeds in huge quantities.  I used three pounds of thistle in three days!  That's a bit expensive perhaps, but it's such a joy at this time of year to watch them turn into their brilliant yellow breeding plumage.  Two of them are pictured below on the left.

Finally, I really worked to get a picture of a Carolina Chickadee.  They're tough.  They come to the feeder, grab a seed, and more often than not, fly off to a tree limb to crack it open and eat.  It took some patience, but I finally photographed one just as he was about to take off (below, right).

I hope you like the photos.  If you have a smart phone and a scope, you can google the appropriate attachment to make the two work together.  They're not expensive, and it's so much fun!

American Goldfinch nearing breeding plumage.

Carolina Chickadee with some millet.