Wild Fidalgo

There's a new BirdCam from Wingscapes called the BirdCam Pro .  It offers several improvements over the BirdCam 2 which it replaces.  Here are some first looks as a brand new one comes out of the packaging. The BirdCam Pro consumer packaging provides a glimpse of the device through a window in the box.  Like the BirdCam 2, it is a motion-activated, point-and-shoot camera with an 8 megapixel sensor.  It can also be set for time-lapse photos.  Mount it pointed at a bird feeder or other target where birds or critters visit to capture their JPEG photos or short AVI videos. The back of the box shows setup examples and features.  The box reveals that the camera has no internal memory like the BirdCam 2, but will accept up to 32 GB SD cards.  The '2' would only accept a 4 GB card.  The box also reveals that this camera is WiFi SD card compatible and will record sound as well as stills and video. The device, manuals and accessories are organized in a second inner

Last Friday, I was at West Beach in Deception Pass State Park .  I had a number of wildlife encounters that included several Bald Eagles featured in the previous post .  I also ran into an old friend, whose territory includes a small grove of Shore Pines next to the parking lot.  He is a Douglas Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii) , the native squirrel of Pacific Northwest coniferous forests. The first time we met  in this spot, it was early morning.  He was obviously cold and trying to warm himself in the morning sun.  He was remarkably tolerant of my close proximity.  This is probably a characteristic of park critters where there are often lots of people around. On our second encounter, I dubbed him The Mayor of West Beach because of his pugnacious, take charge behavior.  Another creature had trespassed in his pine grove and he was having none of it.  He paused his eviction just long enough to come out of the grove to say hello. The next meeting was more peaceable , and ev

It was quite a morning at West Beach in Deception Pass State Park .  There was lots of wildlife plus dozens of naval aircraft flying into N.A.S. Whidbey Island nearby.  Look for Ault Field on the map in the link. I want to start with the Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus) .  There were at least half a dozen and they were fishing in the shallow waters near the tide line.  It was quite a spectacle with all the soaring and swooping.  When they made a catch, they would head straight for the trees in the Dune Forest behind the sand dunes.  Look under the foot of the fellow in the first photo to see his nice catch. This was the first bird I spotted with a catch.  The fish is not so easy to see in this photo, but it's there.  When shooting wildlife, it is necessary to take the lighting and the camera angles that you get. When they dove, they would disappear behind the foredune, then rise up again with a fish in their talons.  I have seen this before, but it's always e