Category Archives: Video

Ruby-crowned Kinglet showing crown

by Amy Posted on 11 January 2009

This is a really nice video of a male Ruby-crowned Kinglet showing his red crown while feeding. At first glance, it’s hard to tell why this bird is called ‘Ruby-crowned’ but you’ll understand about 7 seconds into the clip.


Find more videos like this on North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Ruby-crowned Kinglets summer across much of Canada and parts of the western United States. For the most part they winter in the southern half of the U.S. You can see the full range of this bird and more details at Cornell’s All About Birds: Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Looks like we have a chance to see them during the migration as they’ve been reported in our area in April-May and October.

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Posted in North America, Video | Leave a comment

First Birdcam video

by Amy Posted on 1 January 2009

I tried video for the first time with my Wingscapes Birdcam today. Since we’ve got the cam on the optional arm hanging upside down by the feeder, I had to flip the videos. I also zoomed in on one quadrant of the video so the quality is a bit worse than you’d normally see on the Birdcam.

I’m pretty pleased with the results. In the video are: Northern Cardinal; Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored); American Tree Sparrow; Black-capped Chickadee; European Starling; Red-bellied Woodpecker.

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Posted in Video, Wingscapes Birdcam, Yard Birds | Leave a comment

Morphing Owl video

by Amy Posted on 31 December 2008

This first came out over a year ago but it seems to be making the rounds again and I’ve just seen it for the first time. Watch how this Southern White-faced Scops Owl reacts to two different predators.

NOTE: the YouTube video to which this post originally linked has been removed from the site; I swapped in the clip below on 09-FEB-11

The first reaction occurs at about 1:00 and the second, more interesting, starts at about 1:40.

Read more here. NOTE: link also updated 09-FEB-11

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Posted in Africa, Offbeat, Video | 1 Comment

Video: Little Grebe crashes into Muskrat underwater

by Amy Posted on 8 December 2008

This video was taken at L’etang de Beaumont in France in August 2008. The lake is in the Loire Valley and one of the best birding spots in the region. We took this video from a hide by the lake. The muskrat is swimming along when it appears to hit something. A moment later a Little Grebe surfaces.

If you click on the video you can watch a hi-res version on YouTube.

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Posted in France, Video | 1 Comment

Video: Little Grebe plays sailboat

by Amy Posted on 6 November 2008

This video was taken at L’etang de Beaumont in France in August 2008. The lake is in the Loire Valley and one of the best birding spots in the region. We took this video from a hide by the lake. The Little Grebe looks to be stretching its wings but it did this for several minutes, so maybe it was trying to dry them off? It looked it was pretending to be a sailboat.

If you click on the video you can watch a hi-res version on YouTube.

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Posted in France, Video | 1 Comment

Video: White Wagtail walking on lilypads

by Amy Posted on 16 October 2008

This is another video I took during our visit to Chateau de Cheverny in France back in August 2008. There were lots of White Wagtails running around the grounds and several were hanging out at a small pond where we also saw a Kingfisher hunting. The Wagtails would fly up a few yards and then seem to divebomb back towards the water, but before hitting the surface they would slow down and land on a wooden structure that was in the water and furiously tail-wag. It was like they were trying to act like the Kingfisher by divebombing into the water.

Besides that strange behavior I also noticed a couple of Wagtails running across a patch of lilypads:

If you click on the video you can watch a hi-res version on YouTube.

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Posted in France, Video | Leave a comment

Video: Kingfisher in France

by Amy Posted on 24 September 2008

Last month we visited the Loire Valley region of France. We stayed in Bourguiel and visited several chateaux, including Cheverny, which is situated on lovely grounds that included a small pond where we saw this Kingfisher hunting for lunch.

If you click on the video you can watch a hi-res version on YouTube.

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Posted in France, Video | Leave a comment

Video: White Wagtail scooting around

by Amy Posted on 17 September 2008

Last month we visited the Loire Valley region of France. We stayed in Bourguiel and visited several chateaux, including Cheverny, which has huge lawns around it. We saw lots of Wagtails there, scooting around looking for food. I took this video of one doing a really great Roadrunner impersonation.

If you click on the video you can watch a hi-res version on YouTube.

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Posted in France, Video | Leave a comment

The Mystery of the Orange Spoonbill

by Amy Posted on 24 June 2008

An orange-colored Eurasian Spoonbill has been spotted on the Dutch Wadden Island of Texel. Eurasian Spoonbills are normally white.

The strangely-colored Spoonbill has been identified by Vogelbescherming, the Dutch partner of BirdLife International, but the reason for its coloring is a mystery. Shrimps, which cause the pinkish coloring in Roseate Spoonbills, Flamingos and other species, are also part of the diet of Eurasian Spoonbills in the Netherlands. However, the birds here normally do not eat the part of the shrimp which gives the coloring. Did this bird eat that part of some shrimp?

The orange Spoonbill was discovered during the height of the Netherlands’s football (soccer) frenzy as they advanced to the second round in the Euro 2008 championship. During this time people decorate their homes, gardens, cars and selves in orange, the national color (from the royal House of Orange). Another theory as to the orange coloring is that this individual bird came in contact with some orange substance – dye, powder, or makeup – and during regular preening managed to spread the coloring over the entire body. If this is the case, was the contact accidental, or did someone deliberately dye this bird Oranje?

Sources:
Oranje lepelaar op Texel
Logboek at www.beleefdelente.nl/lepelaar

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Posted in Netherlands, Offbeat, Video | Leave a comment