May 31, 2023
This is the first time I’ve ever used a video editor; the learning process is a bit tangled as there’s no tutorial and the editor is quite limited, but it did what I wanted: I trimmed three sections and merged them into a single video; two trims being from video #1 and a third trim from video #2. I’m happy enough with the results, for a beginning. It can only get easier and better from here, right?
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The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.
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First, I thought I might show you where I’m sitting when I’m photographing the nest. It’s right on this frontage road by Gansner Airport, here in Quincy, and sometimes the traffic gets pretty heavy with construction vehicles booming by, as I’m sitting just outside the entrance to the wastewater treatment plant which is still in the throes of massive refurbishment. On the weekends, however, this is rather a nice place to be sitting.
Those are aircraft hangers to the right in the foreground, commercial buildings to the left, below center. Immediately to the outside right of the frame is Spanish Creek, so when I’m photographing the hawk nest I’m rotated view-wise 90 degrees clockwise to this view.
Here’s a Google Earth view, with some notation, to perhaps give another perspective:
This morning I was able to start videoing as soon as I got sat down and the camera clamped into the tripod. I was hoping the adults would arrive, but they never showed for the near-full hour I was in place. By the way, learning to clip and then merge video is one way of getting rid of the dratted traffic noise of the passing trucks. Also, notice that the audio of the chicks’ calls don’t match their beak movement exactly. This is due to the nest being about two hundred yards line-of-sight from where I’m sitting, so there is a noticeable sound delay of about a half-second.
There are other spots along Spanish Creek that I visit, usually on the same day as I’m scoping out the hawk nest, and today I spotted these denizens along the stream:
Black-headed Grosbeak
Western Wood Pewee
Yellow Warbler
The spot I photographed the foregoing is also the spot I captured these in the lens recently:
Bullock’s Oriole
Cedar Waxwing
So, as you can see, I’ve got a fine birding habitat along Spanish Creek to my advantage. And one day, one day, that dratted construction at the sewer plant will be finished and I can go back in by the “front door” once again, in order to be able to observe and photograph the diverse water fowl on the wastewater settling pond therein.
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I took another morning, Friday June 2, over to the nest and was richly rewarded. I shot two videos this morning, and have used my editor again to pull out some clips and put them back together into a single video. Also, these “sequence” stills I managed within just a few moments of getting in place and set up.
Note: I’m using the term “Observation Day _##” in a non-strict manner; I’ve actually been out to observe the nest on several more days than just five so far, since I first located and started photographing/videoing the nest activity twelve days ago, on May 22. Some trips just yielded no activity and so no photos or video (at least, none worthy of posting); the adults were away and the chicks barely active in the adults’ absence. Just thought I’d mention this, for honest reporting and scientific accuracy.
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Now it’s your turn. What’s up in your world, nature and changes? Let us know in the comments and as always please include your location, and photos if you got ‘em!
Link to Observation Day_02
Link to Observation Day_03
