Tag: birdwatching

Perseids and Pompadours

We’ve now seen 89 birds at the farm! We had three new birds this weekend:

  • White-bellied Munia Lonchura locugastra 
  • Ruddy-breasted Crake Ponzana fusca
  • Philippine Green Pigeon (formerly known as Pompadour Green Pigeon) Treron axillaris

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I happened to bring a camera that weekend to take bird pictures. When I looked at my photos, I was surprised to see a Philippine Green Pigeon mixed in with the flock of Pink-necked Green Pigeons!

It was also the weekend of the Perseids meteor shower. The peak of the meteor shower, when you could view up to 50 meteors an hour, was supposed to be late evening up to early morning.

We set up early knowing that farm nights usually end very early for us! We had cold drinks, snacks, and a mat for Momo and Barkley. Bats danced overhead. Soon there were firelies around us and owls calling.

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When it was dark a Grass Owl perched on the bamboo fence in front of us. I peered up at the sky through binoculars. The stars were beautiful and endless! Then one star would start moving and I would follow it with the binoculars! There was only a short window of time when the skies were clear. Later that evening, the skies in the north eastern part of the sky were covered in clouds.

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photo by Tonji

Behind us there were still clear skies and even more stars. If you look closely at the photo, you can see a firefly coming in to land beside the lamp near the house.

 

 

 

 

Barkley the Model

When I get frustrated with drawing birds, there’s always Barkley! You can always count on him to take a nice nap during the day. And look really cute while he’s doing it.

Barkley sleeping and sunbathing

Unlike those birds! When I see a bird perched nicely, I grab my sketching gear! Sometimes, the bird is gone by the time I’ve pulled out my sketchbook and pencil. If the bird stays in the area, then it’s a very intense few minutes of looking through the binoculars or scope and sketching and painting.

At the end, I’m always surprised when I look at my sketchbook and see how few bird sketches I’ve made. It always feels like I drew a lot!

Trail Camera Test

How do you observe wildlife without disturbing them? With a trail camera! A trail camera is motion-activated camera that takes videos or stills. It’s also known as a camera trap. It runs on rechargeable batteries, has a waterproof housing, and can be left outdoors. A crittercam is something else, it’s a camera that you attach to an animal so you can see things like what it looks like to swim underwater like a whale.  A trail camera is positioned in one spot, usually an area where animals are known to congregate. Then the camera takes photos or videos of whatever wildlife is in the field of view of the camera. Continue reading “Trail Camera Test”