Category Archives: Photography

iPhone Digiscoping: Video Grabs

Drew Weber,  a young ornithologist originally from PA but now living in central New York, is pursuing a master’s degree at Penn State University studying grassland birds and their relationships with different agricultural practices.  Not long ago, he posted a wonderful article on the Nemesis Bird blog, the first part of which, I have included below.  Unfortunately, I have an iPhone 4 but this may push me to upgrade.

iPhones have dramatically expanded the number of people that are digiscoping, and successfully getting great photos while they are out birding, without having to lug a big SLR + lens around. With digiscoping adapter cases that fit most scopes, the barrier to digiscoping has been greatly lowered. Lots of birders are getting great images with less effort than they would have imagined just a couple years ago.

Sometimes you are not looking for a publishable photo however, and just need to be sure that you can get an identifiable image of a bird, especially if it is rare and you are trying to document it. In these cases, it can be extremely tedious to try to time your finger on the shutter so that you get a nice profile image. Or it is skulking low in the bushes and you are having a hard time keeping it in your view.

The answer is video. The iPhone, especially the newer iPhone 4S and 5 models, have stellar video capabilities. Instead of trying to time your photos, you can just leave the video mode running and then go back later and grab a still image from the video. There are two easy ways that you can do this.

For my examples I will be grabbing a clip from a following video I shot at Webster Park in Rochester last fall.

Native method

The method uses the iPhone native method for getting a screengrab. At any point, you can push the Home and Sleep buttons simultaneously and the screen will flash. Whatever was on your screen will now be saved as a photo in your camera roll as a 960 x 640 pixel image.

  1. Take your video.

  2. Open the Photos app and find the video.

  3. Play your video until you find an image that you want to save and tap pause. You may have to tap the screen first to show the pause button.

  4. If you took the video in landscape mode, hold the screen in portrait mode and double-tap. This will zoom in and if you are lucky your bird will be in the middle. If not, double tap again to zoom out.

  5. If the controls are showing, tap once in the middle of the screen to make them disappear.

  6. Press both the Home and Sleep buttons simultaneously.

  7. Your screen grab is now ready to upload to Facebook, Flickr (to embed in eBird) and to SMS out to your friends to tell them of your good fortune, or ask for ID help.

Read the rest of the article

Bryan Pfeiffer Takes A New (old) Trail

photo credit - Bryan Pfeiffer

photo credit – Bryan Pfeiffer

Bryan Pfeiffer is a well-known Central Vermont writer, naturalist, photographer and educator.  Many of us have enjoyed his bird walks/tours, his humor-filled lectures, and his photographic skills.  His blog post the other day caught many of us by surprise — not that he’s abandoning some of his many ventures to work on a book — but that he is cutting way back on his electronic activity.  For me, tethered to a MacBook, iPad, and iPhone too much, it was a call to look at how I balance my outdoor and other activities with blogging, Tweeting, and Facebooking.  (I made that a verb to see if my English-teacher wife reads this!

Bryan outlines his decision with his usual clarity and thoughtfulness.  It’s a good read for any birder:

Fifteen years ago I left journalism for nature. I swapped a necktie for binoculars, a reporter’s notepad for a naturalist’s field book. Although my income sank to levels of voluntary poverty, I inherited wealth in a new currency: a warbler’s dawn melody, an orchid’s purple glow, a dragonfly’s ancient tenacity.

This life outside I have been eager to share with others. Coded into my DNA is a drive to bring nature and people together. It is how I’ve made my living. It has given me purpose. I suppose it’s no different than journalism. If the free trade of facts and knowledge are essential to a functioning society, then so too is the discovery and enjoyment of nature critical to its future. And to our own.

If I couldn’t get you outside, your ears tuned to a Mink Frog, your nose tingling with the scent of Balsam Poplar, your eyes wide and locked on a Regal Fritillary, your mouth savoring serviceberries, or your feet wet in a spruce bog, then here at The Daily Wing I ventured to unite your senses with wildlife and wild places. For three years this blog, with all due humility, has been my intersection of nature and journalism.

Now it will rest.

My blend of the wild and the wired will enter diapause, nature’s state of dormancy. Not only will this blog rest, but so will my fling with Facebook, Twitter, digital photography, radio television broadcasts, PowerPointing and other electronic communications. I’m dimming the lights and heading for the woods with a notebook and pencil.  (Read the whole post here.)

It’s minus 16 F this morning and still dark out so I think I’m comfortable drinking coffee and writing — but I’m giving Bryan’s diapause idea a lot of thought as we move to saner temperatures and arriving birds.

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Tips For Watching & Photographing Wildlife

A Guest Post by Sue McGrath

Study wildlife identification on your own before going out into the field. Learn about the most abundant species in the area, focusing on their physical markings and common behaviors. Even just familiarizing yourself with the sections of your identification book will be an enormous help in the field as you try to find information while keeping track of an animal on the move.

Develop your wildlife viewing techniques: scan bushes, trees and shrubs for subtle movement; cup your hands around your ears to help amplify sound.

Find wildlife with your eyes first, then focus in with your binoculars. Look for nearby landmarks and objects to help direct others to your sighting.

Look for wildlife signs. Scat, tracks, whitewash and buck rubs are just a few of the signs that tell you wildlife is nearby.

Wear clothing that blends with your surroundings /except/ during hunting season when bright colors are advisable. Earth tones and drab colors work best and help you blend into the background.

Your vehicle makes an excellent wildlife blind. Animals are often used to vehicles and will pass close by. Turn off your engine and sit quietly. Wildlife may come right to you.

Most animals have very strong senses of sight, sound and smell. Move slowly and quietly to avoid attracting their attention.

An upright human figure stands out in the landscape. To disguise your shape, try crouching down.

Crouch down when possible to avoid startling wildlife. photo by Seven Bedard

Crouch down when possible to avoid startling wildlife. photo by Seven Bedard

Animals may be startled by staring human eyes. Try wearing a wide-brimmed hat to shade and hide your eyes.

Watching and listening are the two keys to identifying wildlife warning signals. Animals communicate distress in subtle ways.Learning these signals is important for your safety and the animal’s welfare.

 Sue McGrath

www.newburyportbirders.com

Thursday Digiscoping

I went out with my larger camera and in spite of temperatures in the low 40’s and cloud cover, found some active birds to practice on.  I had forgotten my remote control so I shot in bursts to try to cut down on camera shake.  I fiddled with ISO settings, ending up with 2000 to get any decent shutter speed.  Here are a few birds I found:

A Ringed-necked Duck on Berlin Pond. Vortex Razor HD, 20-60 eyepiece at 20x, Canon EOS 60D, 50 mm lens, & Vortex DCA adapter.

I found a great spot for sparrows at Wrightsville Dam and in spite of the dog’s help, running to and fro, I grabbed a few images.  Sparrows have left our property and I was surprised to see so many species frolicking and singing away.  They won’t be around much longer.

We have recently started to see American Tree Sparrows migrate here and should have them around all winter.

This is the first Fox Sparrow I’ve seen this year. They are likely on their way through to a little warmer climes.

Hoodies Are Here

A visit this morning to nearby Berlin Pond revealed a few Hooded Mergansers, one of my favorite birds, and a raft of Black Scoters out in the middle of the pond.  Hoodies are fun the watch — the males look so dressed up and important, especially with their crest up.  The females often look like they’ve had a bad hair day with the rusty crest fluffed up.  I’m still figuring out which camera to use digiscoping but here’s some shots I took of them:

Hooded Mergansers on Berlin Pond – 10-31-12 Vortex Razor HD, 20-60 eyepiece at 20x, Canon SD4000, Vortex DCA & PS100 adapters.

Male Hoodies with their crest up look pretty spiffy.

A poor digiscoped shot through the trees of a raft of Black Scoters. I originally called these American Coots but the yellow beaks made me change my call.

I’m going to experiment again with my Canon 60D for digiscoping and see if that results in sharper images.  We’ll see if that helps with clarity — although I think that it just takes more practice and better camera settings to match conditions.  Nice challenge for this Fall.

A Couple of Storm Birds

In spite of forecast for high winds and some rain, we escaped Hurricane Sandy with just a little wind and showers.  And so while we we likely didn’t get any rare birds blown in, we also are much more fortunate than our southern neighbors in New York, New Jersey, and the mid-Atlantic region.  The scenes of destruction put things in perspective.

Yesterday in the late morning, I drove down to a doctor’s appointment.  I had put the scope and binos in the truck, just in case.  As I drove by the Wrightsville Reservoir, just down the road from my house, I saw a couple of specs of white on the water as I raced by.  I turned around, drove down to the boat launch, and set up my scope.  A Bufflehead and a grebe were across the water, just resting in place.  I digiscoped a couple of shots and jumped in the truck to get to the doc in time.  Here’s what I saw:

After the appointment, I stopped on my way back.  The grebe had moved away from the Bufflehead and was even further off.  As I was driving off, two birder friends, both more skilled than I, drove up and we spent some time scoping the bird.  It was diving frequently and the light was bad but we settled on a Horned Grebe.  One reason is that the Red-necked is quite a lot larger.

The Bufflehead and the Horned Grebe are nearly the same size so having them side-by-side was a big help.

This is my first Vermont Horned Grebe and thus, first in Washington County.  I’m hoping that we might get a few more strays today.

Images by Dick Mansfield

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Digiscoping at Plum Island

I try to make it over to Parker River NWR every time we visit this area and today I grabbed a few hours to check things out and practice some digiscoping.  There were few tourists and birders and lots of ducks.  Most of the ducks were feeding heavily so I gave up after taking way too many “duck butt” shots.  I saw Gadwalls, Mallards, Teals, Pintails, Wigeons, Ruddy Ducks, Black Ducks, and a probably a few more.  Four Mute Swans were in the Salt Pannes –here’s a shot of one preening.

Mute Swan preening

We always check Mute Swans hoping for a Tundra…. some day.

Some of the highlights of the day were the hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants (with probably a Great or two in there) heading southward.  I enjoyed watching two Northern Harriers hunting, using the northwest wind to hover and swoop.  They are perhaps my favorite hawk.

Lots of sparrows still hanging out — Swamp, White-crowned, Savannah, Song, and several others too vague for me to identify.  I need a sparrow guru with me on Plum Island.  One Song Sparrow posed for some digiscoping:

On the way out, about a dozen Yellowlegs were resting.  Here is one that was up and about and looking good.

In addition to good weather and good birds, it was nice to be at Parker River between hunting seasons.  The adjacent waters are hunted heavily and it’s nice to have some peace and quiet — for us and for the ducks and geese.

Harbor Seal Spotting


Every fall and winter, harbor seals come into the Merrimack River. They congregate just opposite to the campground -they are very much a local attraction — to campers and day visitors to Salisbury State Park Reservation.  Mary and I drove over today to see them as the tide was receding.

Named common seal throughout Europe, this seal frequently observed around Long Island lives along the shores of eastern Canada, New England and in the winter, as far south as the Carolinas in a variety of habitats. Their scientific name loosely means “sea calf” or “sea dog.” This latter nickname is well suited as these seals closely resemble a dog when their head is viewed at the surface of the water.

“Hey Guys, stop loafing and get to work. The fish are running.”

They were out on the rocks, lying with their heads and hind flippers elevated in a “banana-like” position. They were “talking” to one another and enjoying the fall cloud-filtered sunlight.

A Great Black-backed Gull posed as we watched the seals.

While harbor seals don’t do the tricks of the seals at Sea World, it was delightful to see them in their natural habitat, feeding, playing, and resting. Nice images to take back to a pending Vermont winter.

Mallards Get No Respect

“Ah, just a couple of Mallards.”  How many times have we said that when scanning through a group of waterfowl, looking for the rock stars: the Teals, the Hoodies, the Redheads … anything but plain vanilla Mallards.  Like Black-capped Chickadees or American Robins, or even Blue Jays, it’s easy to take a “just another” attitude toward the feathered friends we see quite often.

But, there’s a lot to be said for bird watching, rather than birding from time to time:  taking the time to observe, to admire, to just be present with …  some call it slow birding.  Here is one online description of the differences:

One person can be both a birdwatcher and a birder. Many bird lovers change their style of birding from day to day, some days more casually enjoying their familiar backyard birds, while other days focusing on chasing that new lifer or identifying a unique visitor. What both types have in common, however, is a love of birds that withstands any name rivalry.

The other day, I watched two pairs of Mallards feeding in the morning sun, oblivious to me scoping them from across the inlet.  They just dabbled and preened and had a great time — it reminded me of hanging out in a great coffee shop, nibbling and sipping, just having a leisurely breakfast.

I watched a couple of Mallards leisurely feeding and dabbling, partly hidden by the foliage, enjoying the morning sun.

I’m usually not the most patient of birders — I have to consciously slow down and observe rather than just ticking the bird off on my iPhone and moving on.  There’s a time and a place for that, but it’s also fun to make time to not only study the details of plumage but to learn more about what the birds that we see and hear are doing.  It’s a work in progress for me.  So Mallards, if I have maligned you in the past, remember deep down I think you’re cool-looking and acting ducks.  Dabble on!

Southern Birds

Mary and I drove three hours southeast to northern Massachusetts yesterday and it is like we became southerners.  Not only have we changed stick season’s chilly rain and fog for mid-seventies and pretty foliage, I’m hearing and seeing birds that I thought I had seen the last of until spring.  Seven Eastern Bluebirds this morning!

I have a walk from Jen’s house that I take nearly every morning I’m visiting — it’s a little over a mile down a busy road lined with oaks and often, very birdy.  I got out yesterday morning early before the homeowners got their leaf blowers going, and before the traffic picked up.  In spite of fog and a little drizzle, what a mix of bird noises greeted me.

We get a lot of Tufted Titmice here and I love their feistiness and constant chipping and singing.  They are sparse in our Vermont woods but dozens were out and about, and a couple were pretty brassy, watching me at about eye level.   I heard, and saw the whole woodpecker gang, missing only a Pileated.  The other real noisy bird was a crew of White-breasted Nuthatches joined by a couple of Red-breasted cousins.  Here’s the list from the hour-long walk:

Cooper’s Hawk  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  13
Tufted Titmouse  6
Red-breasted Nuthatch  3
White-breasted Nuthatch  6
Eastern Bluebird  6
American Robin  6
European Starling  12
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Dark-eyed Junco  6
Northern Cardinal  4

Later, Mary and I drove over to Cherry Hill Reservoir after doing some errands.  There were lots of ducks on the water but the light was horrible.  We did see a cooperative Northern Mockingbird who posed on a fence rail for quite some time, but flew off just as I got my digiscoping rig set up.  We also saw a duck species I hadn’t seen since 2010 in Texas — Ruddy Duck.  I took some photos through the scope but the light is not helpful other than for identification.

Ruddy Duck

Ruddy Ducks are one of the “stiff-tailed” ducks.

We are going to be here for several more days so I hope to get out to Plum Island and up the Cape Ann to see what migration may be bringing in. Check back here for results.