New Bird Feeder Camera is Busy This Fall!

This weekend Baltimore Orioles have been frequenting my feeder that has a small dish of grape jelly just for them.

See the little pop of orange in the feeder? That’s an Oriole. 

Here’s a better look at the vibrant, beautiful male Baltimore Oriole and a better look also at the camera feeder I purchased in October. 

My first camera feeder was a gift last Christmas from my son Joseph. What a great surprise that was and I quickly got into seeing the daily short video clips it recorded of a wide variety of birds we have in the Charleston, S.C. Area. 

But that device stopped charging last summer. I finally bought a new one last month and I’m glad I did. Here is what I acquired. I’ve shared this link with a few folks who have asked after some bird video posts I’ve made on our neighborhood’s Facebook site. 

Here’s a fun screenshot I made today from an Oriole video. 

And below is a 15-second video recorded today. I like the picture and sound quality. 

Recent Camera Captures

 The Christmas gift camera feeder continues to be a hit attracting a variety of birds but also an unwelcome squirrel (keep reading). This post features some of the recent activity with 20-second video clips.

Yellow-rumped Warbler 
(aka butter Butt for the splash of yellow it shows from behind on its behind lol)

Tufted Titmouse
(easily recognizable for its "jaunty crest of gray feathers, big black eyes and rust-colored flanks" per the above website)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
(one of North America's smallest songbirds)

Beautiful Baltimore Oriole

I took these photos last week from my upstairs “bird blind.” There’s a small window in our master bath that winds open enough for me to give my camera lens a clear view of the nearby trees and the bird feeders below. 

Male and female Orioles are still coming regularly to my Christmas gift camera feeder. This bird really loves jelly, especially grape jelly. See this recent post about the cool camera feeder.

Camera Bird Feeder Fun!

 

A surprise Christmas gift (thank you Joseph and Tamy!) has added a new dimension to my birding hobby. 

It’s a bird feeder with a built-in camera that takes video or still shots. It is designed to be mounted on a tree but my immediate thought was how easy it would be for squirrels to get into it and eat all of the seed. 

I'm really liking the features and quality of this camera feeder, my first. Here's a link to it on Amazon. 

Instead of affixing it to a tree, I found a way to firmly attach it to this hanging basket stand that has long been in our backyard. Fits in nicely don’t you think? 

Winter Bird Count

 

Baltimore Orioles 

Christmas Eve became extra joyous when my grape jelly feeder in the backyard was visited throughout the holy day by a few beautiful Baltimore Orioles! 

After snapping some photos through the window, I moved upstairs and quickly and quietly opened a bathroom window that overlooks our array of feeders. 

What a color scheme has this fine feathered fellow! 

Orioles crave the jelly, so I try to it out for them, especially in the fall and winter.

The weather was very chilly on this day, in the upper 20s-low 30s. A knowledgeable friend who owns the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Mt. Pleasant, after I posted some of these photos on Facebook, said the cold temperatures make Orioles and other birds more active (and hungry I reckon). 

Female Baltimore Orioles came by too on this day. I didn’t get any photos of the lady Os. That’s a Pine Warbler in the middle of this pix. 

Here are some more of my special Christmas Eve Orioles! 

Brilliant Baltimore Oriole Brightens an Already Sunny Winter Day

This past Sunday I was lucky to photograph a male Baltimore Oriole that was feeding and preening at my backyard feeders. With my new Canon SX70 I took all the photos I wanted then switched to video mode…

Here are several of my still shots. The first one was taken through a downstairs window. Then I rushed upstairs and quickly and quietly cranked open a bathroom window that looks down on the feeder, poked out my camera’s lens and fired away! 

Winter Birds 2022

There has been steady activity at the feeders and the pond so far in 2022. I will be adding more photos as the birds come around and my camera and I are at the ready. 

Baltimore Orioles (ladies first) 

Baltimore Orioles

It was a treat in March to see and  photograph my first Baltimore Orioles!  My friend and neighbor Richard Hayes has been attracting them to his backyard feeders with grape jelly.

In the above photo, an adult male (right) is in full-glory Oriole orange body and black head and wing tips.That's a juvenile male next to him.  Wild Birds Unlimited is where Richard got the small cone-shaped jelly dispensers.  He's been doing this for a few years and says the Orioles show up in November and stay for the winter as late as April.

Above is a female Oriole.  Quite a difference right? The female resembles other yellow-golden birds such as the Pine Warbler and American Golfinch. The long, straight beak is one lady Oriole distinction from those others.

With the male Oriole, there's no such uncertainty what he is!

Richard's jelly also attracts Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers!  This is a bird I've seen before in my own yard, usually pecking away on a tree.  This is the closest I've ever seen and photographed this type of woodpecker.

The Sapsuckers red throat helps distinguish it from other regional woodpeckers.

Richard kept the jelly cone filled to the brim for his many feathered friends, such as this female Oriole. The juvenile Oriole had to think life is good!

One last look at the male Oriole.  My neighbor let me come over three different weekend mornings when the birds are hungry for their jelly breakfast. 

Next fall I'm going to get my own special jelly dispenser!  Maybe I'll get some Orioles in my own backyard.