Don’t forget to send in your photos, folks!
Today’s photos come from reader Paul Edelman. Paul’s notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. I’ve put the links to birds on the Cornell site in the introduction.
My daughter and son-in-law gave me a present–the Bird Buddy www.mybirdbuddy.com The gadget is a bird feeder with a built-in camera that connects to the web. It will take pictures of the birds that come to the feeder and send them to your phone. It also attempts to identify them for you. The app is a bit kludgy and the AI-recognition is not very good (I think they are counting on the users to train it further, which is some of what makes the app itself annoying) but the pictures are really fun and give an unusual view of the birds. Here are the ones that have come to visit:
The Carolina Chickadee (Parus carolinensis) and the Tufted Titmouse (Parus bicolor) are the most common visitors. They are both very bold and will eat even when we are puttering around the deck. The next most common is the House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus). We have tons of these, but they seem more interested in the tube-feeders than the Bird Buddy. Occasionally we will see a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) climb up to it as well.
Less often we have seen the bigger birds: Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), and European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). They do not sit so comfortably which is fortunate because they eat too much and scare the smaller birds.
I also attach a picture of our newest visitor, the Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). These appear rarely in our area and only when their food sources in the Smokey Mountains fall short. He has yet to visit the Bird Buddy but is a regular diner at our tube-feeders. I am hoping that their irruption signals that other unlikely birds, say Pine Siskins and the like, might also make an appearance.
Red-breasted nuthatch:
Blue jay:
Carolina wren:
Common starling:
House finch:
Northern cardinal:
Northern mockingbird:
Titmouse:
Carolina chickadee:
Those are teriffic perspectives. What a clever idea.
I like that! It also gives a nice wide angle perspective of the birds, and that is a nice effect.
Well done!
That’s the most flattering photo of a female cardinal I’ve ever seen. She really is quite lovely. The mocker’s eyes look almost human-like. The wren looks like it should have a wind-up key on its back to start its Klaxon calls. What can one say about a starling? It’s definitely a starling.
But is it just a trainee?
Lovely and unusual photos – thanks!
This is pretty cool! A unique perspective on feeder birds. Thank you.
This won’t be of interest to most readers, but I’ll just note that some of the scientific names are out-of-date. Carolina Chickadee is now Poecile carolinensis, Tufted Titmouse is now Baeolophus bicolor, and House Finch is Haemorhous mexicanus. The scientific name of the Carolina Wren, which I believe was omitted, is Thryothorus ludovicianus.
Yikes! I better get newer guides! Thanks for pointing this out.
These are fun photos!
What a great variety of birds.
A candid camera for birds.
Thank you for these.
I think that’s quite a nice idea for a gadget, and it’s given some very nice bird photos. Thanks for sharing.
Hey, that’s a great gift idea, especially for capturing images of shy birds! Nice shots; my favourite one is the Northern Cardinal.
Thank you! I had a red-breasted nuthatch at my feeders this morning, and I didn’t know what it was. I’d never seen one here before. We have lots of white-breasted.
My Birds of New Mexico identifies it as a common species, but it’s not common at my house. Your picture saved me the hassle of figuring it out.
L
Startlingly good images. Wow. Keep them coming.
The Blue Jay’s feet, especially its right one, are swollen in a way that resembles infection by a mite called Knemidocoptes.