From the category archives:

Photography

Citizen Science: Great Blue Heron

by The Birdfreak Team on September 13, 2007

A few months back, we were invited to post our Great Blue Heron pictures on a group called Citizen Science: Great Blue Heron. We checked them out and found that their idea was to gather knowledge of the Great Blue Heron by collecting a database of photos from people on flickr. What a cool idea!

This is a group devoted to collecting photographs of great blue herons. Our ultimate hope is to build a database that can be used for scientific studies of great blue herons. We are built on the model of citizen science projects in which the existence of large numbers of amateurs can become a significant aid to scientists by collecting data that could not otherwise be collected. The idea originally was developed at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with their Project Feeder Watch. We thought we would follow up with a new project based on the power of flickr.

So we try to add all of our Great Blues to their group and sometimes even invite a few others to join. There are a lot of cool birding groups out there, some feature solo birds and others are questing for I.D. help such as The Bird Identification Help Group (which we have used).

Here are a few other birding groups found on flickr:

{ 2 comments }

Flickr + Birding = A Cool Way to View Birds in Action

by The Birdfreak Team on September 12, 2007

The Birdfreak Team has been using Flickr to post and organize photos since January of this year. By the end of May, we already had 1000 photos! They add up fast and we love how easy it is to put them on the blog or send them to people.

Photo number 1623

We even started two of our very own flickr groups called The Secret Life of Birds and Birds as Art.

The Secret Life of Birds currently has 115 members, who have added some really great photos depicting bird behavior.
One photo shows a Swallow-tailed Kite carrying two frogs. Another shows a Ruffed Grouse drumming during a courtship display and one shows a Black Skimmer…well skimming!
Lots of different birds have been added so far, from Acorn Woodpeckers to Great Blue Herons to Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. There are hundreds of other great photos in this group showing off bird behavior.

We were so lucky to have captured this Sedge Wren singing proud.

It’s a bit overwhelming that so many have joined, but it is great fun!

Our other group, Birds as Art has 68 members and accepts all kinds of cool photos related to birds. Three Roseate Spoonbills in a row? Sure! A gorgeous banded Black-throated Blue? Of course! A perfectly perched Red-winged Blackbird? Absolutely!

We have added a few of our own photos to the groups, including one of our favorite warblers, the Ovenbird.

Flickr is a great resource for finding tons of great birders and bird photos. Now if only the site would adopt a Flicker as its mascot….

{ 2 comments }

1,000 Photos on Flickr!

by The Birdfreak Team on May 22, 2007

We started using Flickr back in January of this year and have reached 1,000 photos!!

Our 13-year-old Blue Healer mix–Socks!

Flickr is a wonderful place to find cool photos and to share your own photos. We’ve met many great photographers and birders through Flickr and have enjoyed wonderful comments on some of our photos. Over the years we’ve taken many more photos than 1,000 but a lot of them never made it past the electronic trash can.

After 1,000 photos, here are a few of our favorite shots!

An Ovenbird in our backyard (2005)

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Teton National Park, Wyoming

American Golfinch at our backyard bird feeder

Arizona Doberman, our new puppy

Question: Do you think he caught the frisbee??

Blue Mockingbird in Texas

Feel free to check out all our photos at the Birdfreak Photostream on Flickr. We don’t pretend to be professionals, but just like carrying a camera while out birding!

Also, we offer ALL our bird photos to be used free of charge for bloggers, websites, print media, etc. They aren’t all the greatest quality, but sometimes it is nice to be able to add a picture to a post or use a photo while giving a presentation. We would like them to be credited to our website, but nothing else. No prior permission needed.

Here’s to thousands more photos on Flickr!

{ 3 comments }

Bird Photo Quiz

by The Birdfreak Team on April 2, 2007

Here’s a double photo quiz - your only clues are that they were taken on April 2nd in northern Illinois…

These are what we refer to as “burst rejects” - the load of pictures you get with a digital camera, set on burst, to catch a moving bird. (The second picture is mostly bad lighting and poor angle.)

{ 6 comments }

Dreaming of Spring

by The Birdfreak Team on February 24, 2007

The snow is coming down at a fair rate and I can’t wait till Spring. I’ve been busy creating a website for the Rockford Bird Club including a Winnebago Birding Guide so haven’t had as much time to post. When those projects are further along, I’ll post about them. Northern Illinois has some suprisingly good birding.

I’m looking forward to when our backyard visitors return:

{ 1 comment }

Who am I?

by The Birdfreak Team on January 26, 2007

Often I go birding and try to photograph birds that are singing. I come home, the pictures sit on my camera’s memory card for a week and then I upload the pics. They are all marked P#######. So I try to put a name on the bird and sometimes confusion arises.

Do you know what bird this is?

Addendum: Photos taken in May

{ 3 comments }

Whooping Crane and Chick

by The Birdfreak Team on December 14, 2006

This Whooping Crane with chick photo was taken at the International Crane Foundation, a great place where you can see all 15 (?) species of cranes from all over the world. The ICF is an awesome place to visit and actually has pretty good birding on their land. We saw all 15 species of cranes and photographed each, but alas, they do not count for our lifelist. That’s OK with me, cranes rule!