No, we didn’t add a special new bat-optimized camera to the Wingscapes product line-up; although judging from the number of bat photos we’ve been receiving lately from BirdCam 2.0 users, perhaps we should.
This latest one, uploaded to the Photo Gallery by Dave form Tucson, Arizona, shows not one, not two, but three Lesser Long-nosed Bats making a nocturnal visit to a hummingbird feeder.
Lesser Long-nosed Bats
Many species of bats are nectar feeders and as such are often drawn to hummingbird and oriole feeders. Savvy nature photographers who discover this fact and position their cameras accordingly are often rewarded, as was Dave, with some truly remarkable images of these beautiful night-flying creatures.
Well done indeed Dave!
Of all the ways we’ve seen BirdCams mounted, we don’t recall previously seeing this clever “straight down the fence rail” position used by Adam from Dudley, North Carolina to capture this BirdCam-Life-List-enlarging image of a perched Loggerhead Shrike.
Perched Loggerhead Shrike
While not particularly menacing-looking birds, shrikes have been given the nickname “butcher birds” by those who know about their habit of capturing small insects, reptiles, mammals and even other birds, quickly dispatching them by means of their hooked beaks, then holding them fast using thorn bushes or even barbed wire fences in order to “butcher” them for easier eating.
Our friends Shirley and Wayne from Cottonwood, Arizona have sent us two more BirdCam photos, a Common Raven and a Collared Peccary (commonly called a Javelina) to add to our Avian and Non-Avian BirdCam Life Lists. They have truly set the bar for the number of BirdCam Life List pictures we have received from our very excited customers!
Shirley writes:
Ravens don't come in to feed at our feeders, so you can imagine my surprise as I looked through the photos this day
...as we were eating dinner tonight along came a Javelina, or Peccary as it is really called. The last time they came through in the day time there were about 20 in the herd. The little babies are red and so cute! But tonight there was only one... this one is a medium sized one.
Regular BirdCam photo contributor Pam from Malabar has such a variety of species in her yard. She recently sent us these great pictures of a pair of Northern Bobwhites. Since these are the first images of this particular species that we have received they have been added to our BirdCam Life List.
Thanks Pam!
Regular contributors to the Wingscapes BirdCam Life List – Shirley and Wayne from Cottonwood, Arizona – were recently featured in the Verde Independent newspaper along with many of their BirdCam photos of the Greater Roadrunner pair nesting on their property. We were very glad to read in the article that Shirley and Wayne continue to be “always ‘delighted and surprised’ at the pictures the camera takes” just as we’re always delighted and surprised with each new species they record and add to the Wingscapes BirdCam Life List.
Keep up the great work Shirley and Wayne!
Shirley and Wayne from Cottonwood, Arizona keep sending us great shots. These were some of their first photos!
Here are a few of the pictures they have sent us that we have added to our BirdCam Life List. They have also submitted the Verdin, Crissal Thrasher and the Gambel's Quail.
Shirley writes:
Here is a picture of the hooded oriole - male taken today, May 5, 2008 in Cottonwood Arizona. We noticed that you did not have one posted on your life list of the Wingscape bird cam webpage.
We are new at this - actually today is the first day that we have had our camera.
We have quite a few more birds that come in regularly to our feeder that are not on the life list, and I want to send them as I get them...
Black Chinned Hummingbird - this is the cutest little guy. Note the dark throat and white line under black on his throat. He's a nice purple...
Our only other one up here right now is the Anna's. Down in southern AZ there are so many other species and it's a real treat to go hummingbird watching down there.
Bullock's Oriole - this is the oriole that we have out west that is like your eastern version. Note he has a dark back of his head, as compared to the hooded oriole that I sent in a few weeks ago. We also had the Scott's oriole, but of course, we haven't seen him since we got the bird cam.
Check out these great shots sent in to us by Floyd in McMinnville, Oregon.
The Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler and the Pine Siskin are the first photos submitted of these two species so we have added them to our BirdCam Life List.
Floyd writes:
...photos taken by the BirdCam during the past week. Still having fun with it.
Jack from Fryeburg, Maine just sent us these great shots!
Thanks Jack!
He also captured the first photograph of a Common Redpoll with the BirdCam so we have added it to our BirdCam Life List.
Jack writes:
We really enjoy the pictures we get from the camera. One is a picture from the same day (March 23) and the other is from April 5, 2008 when a flock of about 100 were in the tree in the yard. A bunch went down to get some seed when that picture was taken. Again these pictures of the Common Redpolls were taken in Fryeburg, ME.
The Born Again Bird Watcher posted this interesting article about size differences between the Varied Thrush and the Dark-eyed Junco.
He also captured the first photograph of a Varied Thrush with the BirdCam so we have added it to our BirdCam Life List.
John Writes:
As the juncos were joined by a group of Golden-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia atricapilla) this morning, I moved the Wingscapes BirdCam from one of the feeder posts down to a ground level location known to be a clustering area for many of sparrow species that visit the property in hope of adding a few photos of a Golden-crowned to my expanding bird image collection. When I retrieved the images from the camera this afternoon, the answer to my junco-startling thrush conundrum was discovered.
Jim from Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California wrote in with this great shot of a Wild Turkey.
Since this is the first known picture taken by the BirdCam of a Wild Turkey, we will be adding this to the BirdCam Life List.
Thanks Jim!
He writes:
A very dry March-April brought an unusual visitor to our birdbath yesterday! Here's a Wild Turkey.
