No Tail Pulling!

Watch the Crow pull the tail of a Band-tailed Pigeon in this short ten second video.

Who's Digging the Hole?

So the other day I noticed this hole under a step in the garden.

I placed the BirdCam right in front of the hole.  The cat was interested in the hole too and sat there for forty minutes before  walking away.

Since there are a couple of bird feeders on a pole to the left of the hole several different birds came through the garden.

California Towhee

American Crow

Here is a video of the different birds milling about.  First a Band-tailed Pigeon, then some crows followed by a scrub jay.  Then some Mourning Doves amble through when the culprit shows up!

The hole digger!

Here is a video of the squirrel in action.

First Shot!

Here is the first shot of a time-lapse project I have set up at Gazebo Plants and Flowers for the big flower show.  It should be interesting watching the courtyard transform into a colorful display of begonias, bromeliads, orchids and other flower plants.  The camera is taking a picture every 15 minutes from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  After the show I will take all of the pictures and make a short video.

Morning Oriole

This morning I was greeted by the chatter from this Oriole.

Hooded Oriole



Hooded Oriole



Hooded Oriole

Passion Flowers

I grew up in Missouri and as a kid we planted marigolds, zinnias and petunias around our patio.  Basic flowering plants for Missouri.  Then in my twenties I moved to California and was introduced to all kinds of exotic flowering plants.  I'll never forget the first time I saw a passion flower.  I was convinced that they were plastic flowers that someone had stuck on a vine.  I was totally amazed to find out they were real.  I had never seen anything like it before.


Passion Flower

This variety of Passion flower was the first one I saw and this particular vine grows on our balcony.  The Passion Flower below is growing on the fence of a nursery in Los Osos, California. 

Passion Flower

  

New Video Camera - Sony Bloggie

I bought a new Sony Bloggie HD video camera.  It's a small video camera that fits in a shirt pocket.


Bloggie Video Camera

 I mounted the camera on a tripod and positioned it in front of an Oriole feeder.

I pressed the record button and walked away.  Here is one of the first videos that I shot with this camera.  A male Oriole comes to the feeder and then a juvenile Oriole shows up.  Keep an eye on the pepper trees in the background as another male comes flying up to the feeder.  Then at the 39 sec point a hummingbird does a fly.

The quality is really diminished after uploading the video to blogger.  This isn't a good representation of the cameras resolution.  I

Two male Orioles at the feeder

It's very unusual to see two male orioles at the feeder at the same time.  One moves out and the other one moves in.

Color Outside our Kitchen Door

Mike's tuberous begonias are blooming like crazy outside our kitchen door.  Right now it is very colorful.

Tuberous Begonias

Tuberous Begonia

Tuberous Begonia

Tuberous Begonia

Tuberous Begonia

Tuberous Begonias

The only downside to all of this is that we can't do any cooking on the grill until fall!

Tuberous Begonia on the Grill!

Hummer in the Sun

I thought this was a nice video of a hummer buzzing back and forth to the feeder.  The angle of the sun shows off it wings.

Siblings at the Oriole Feeder

Here is a short ten second video of a couple of Oriole siblings at the feeder, acting like a couple of siblings.

Heres another video were they act more like siblings!

Two Hummers at the Feeder

This is a short ten second video of two hummingbirds at the Oriole feeder. One just sits on the feeder while the other one buzzes around.  The sound of the neighbors chain saw adds to the show!