Magpies Bathing

There was a thin layer of water over a thick layer of ice in the bird bath but that didn't deter



the three regular Magpie visitors from having their daily shower. The Pied Wagtail spent several hours in the garden today.

Fledgling Starling Feeding Time

A couple of days ago there were two fledgling Starlings in the garden. Yesterday there was only one, patiently waiting to be fed. After feeding the youngster the parent had a shower and dried off in the Sun.



So far today I haven'n seen any in the garden.

Eat, Argue and Bathe

You don't have to see them to know a flock of Starlings has arrived at the bird feeders. Between eating and bathing they seem to spend the rest of time maintaining the pecking order - very loudly.



Never a dull moment when they are about.

Bird Visitors

A while ago I put the waterfall from the old pond to one side as the wooden frame which was holding it up was rotting. Even laid almost flat the pools in the waterfall filled with rain water which attracted birds to bathe and drink. I set up my old trail camera nearby to see what it could capture. It is timed to be working mainly at night with a bit of early and late daylight as the days get longer. A few results so far:

How Time Flies

After a bit of judicious trimming of vegetation and re-positioning the IR detector I set things up again to see what wildlife was visiting for a drink or a quick bath.

Here is the IR detector in place:

 

I was thinking I had built this a couple of years ago and was astounded when I found out I had originally written about building it ten years ago here (Heath Robinson Strikes Again). While the weather is fine I have left the detector in place so the birds get used to it being there.

A few regulars from Tuesday:

House Sparrows


Female Blackbird


Robin

(must remember to set the camera to manual focus)

Wood Pigeons


At least there were fewer false triggers and empty photos to delete.

One Clean Robin

I am used to seeing Robins visit the bird bath to have a drink but I think this is the first time I have seen one take a bath. By the looks of it I think this is one of this years brood. First it just stood in the middle of the water, then had a little splash about, stood some more, then more bathing and so on:

Friday at the Flicks - Bird Bath (Toshiba X-Sports)

Not a brilliant day on Wednesday, overcast with showers from time to time. I decided to mount the X-Sports camera in its waterproof case to see what the picture quality was like:

 

 First I tried it next to the pond waterfall but while I was watching no bird went anywhere near it. Later I moved the camera to stand next to the bird bath:

 

Having switched on the camera's WiFi signal I could control it with the iPod Touch in the kitchen:

 

When the camera was next to the waterfall it was out of range of the kitchen but it was possible to pick up the signal from the Summer House so somewhere between the two is the limit for a decent signal.

I only managed to get a few clips of visiting Blackbirds but it did show me that the picture quality was good with the camera enclosed behind what I assume is acrylic. It also survived a short sharp hail shower:



The original was shot at 1080P, 25fps. The finished video was reduced to 720P to keep the file size down for uploading. Having WiFi on uses more power so the battery life seems to be somewhere around 70 - 90 minutes. At the moment the batteries are charged while in the camera but I have ordered a charger with comes with a couple of extra batteries.

The one thing I have to take into account is a delay of 1 or 2 seconds between touching the record button on the iPod and  the recording starting.

Automated Bird Photography

Regular visitors may well remember my home brew motion detector which I sometimes use to photograph birds visiting the pond waterfall. This time I set it up to monitor any visitors to the bird bath:



Essentially the set up consists, in the background, a room type passive IR detector which activates a relay which in turn activates a wireless release for the camera. That is powered by a 12V gel cell.  In the foreground the Canon 350D with Sigma zoom lens set for auto focus mounted on a tripod. The camera being fired by a wireless receiver. Camera was fixed at 1/500 shutter speed with auto exposure.

This time there were many false triggers (over 60 birdless shots binned), maybe moving tree shadows and also me or Penny walking within range, but I managed a few captures. It is a question of things being set up at the right time as the birds tend to arrive at fairly set times of day. Unfortunately I had to cut the session short when it started to rain heavily.

Blackbirds.
Male:
 
Is that a growth or a ring on its leg?

Females:




 

Starlings:




Dunnock:


Great Tit:






I can see I will be having some automated sessions throughout the Summer. I keep searching for a decent quality, cheapish camera which would allow externally triggered video. I don't think the trail types are as good quality as they make out and anyway  I want something with a zoomable lens.

Clean Birds

Yesterday I decided to resurrect my old home constructed PIR camera switch which I used to use on the pond waterfall to detect any birds bathing there. It had partly fallen apart where the sticky fixers holding things in place had dried out. Once put back together and checked to be working I set it up near the bird bath:

   

It consists of a room PIR module (white) which operates a relay (blue) which in turn activates a wireless camera shutter switch (black with aerial). This is received by the wireless receiver dangling from the 70D which was set up in the kitchen:



Once I had the PIR in a reasonable position the camera was fired most times when a bird visited the bird bath. About 130 photos were taken during the day.  Most numerous visitors were the Starlings which always take full advantage of any available bathing water:













Everything and everybody who gets too close has a free shower.
Definitely a case of splash it all over.
Recording video cannot be started automatically, not with my setup anyway. I was fortunate to be close to the camera when the Starlings decided it was bath time:

Bird Bath - Hedgehog Update

A while ago I had tried out the idea of using a large, shallow plastic tray as a bird bath. Seemed a good idea at the time but the birds thought otherwise. Maybe a black tray made it difficult for them to judge the depth of the water.

Looking round the garden I found another bird bath I had forgotten all about as, at one time, I had use the upright part as a post to support a video camera. This bath is cast concrete and is made to look like a tree stump. The bath part is quite shallow. I purchased it many years ago from Greenways, a fairly local family business who, at one time were very well known for their excellent garden ornaments but sadly have now closed down.

I installed the newly found bird bath near the bird feeders and it was an immediate success.

From MIDMARSH JOTTINGS

This one is in use on and off all day, especially by the Starlings.



Go on - Splash it all Over


Oi - Do you let people photo you when you're bathing?


Another job done - the old concrete one stays.


Hedgehog Update:

First the large Hedgehog visited last night. It left after a short while but was soon back this time joined by the smaller one. As before they both ate quietly for a while and the the jousting started again. By bedtime I thought they had moved on to pastures new but Bobby knew they were around as soon as he went out the back door. He had to go and investigate what they were up to.
I had put out a mixture of peanut pieces and some bits from a tin of Chicken and Beef dog food. The dog food was being ignored, except by Bobby!

Thanks:
Thanks to Greenfingers and ShySongbird who both identified my little 'weed' as Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratense).



I have taken Greenfingers' advice and used some leaves to propagate so I can plant some in a more appropriate position in the garden and see if they will attract yellow tip butterflies in the future.