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Daily Bucket: Birds, a moth, and a spider. Now in 1080p and enhanced with sound! [1]
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Date: 2022-07-11
First, I want to give you this warning. There’s a spider at the end after the second moth picture. I realize with some effort and creativity, I could make it more difficult to see, but we’ve all seen spiders here before. I think it will be ok, but I thought I’d at least give this warning.
Welcome to my fourth Daily Bucket! I’m kind of impressed by that number, but even more impressed that my fifth is coming to you very soon! Once you get started it’s hard to stop, isn’t it?! I keep looking out the house windows to see what’s around. I keep hearing birds and I’m always wondering what I’m hearing. Most of the time I’m clueless. Sometimes I’m even confused. Sometimes I’m confident that I know. What I know has been expanding thankfully because of The Daily Bucket (even when I was just a visitor). This leads to learning, which leads to greater awareness of what’s around me. It also helps lead to new Daily Buckets!
In my first Bucket, I shared with you pictures and videos that were taken with a cell phone. Mine is quite terrible, but I was impressed with the pictures I took with a different one (the snails and eggs particularly). The same cell phone camera that impressed me also greatly disappointed me with future pictures and videos. I wanted to get an upgrade. So, I asked some family members about digital cameras. Now I see that going from 4K to 1080p, kind of stinks.
I was given three cameras which seem to be from around 2008 (a year in which many of us here may remember with a particular fondness). One is missing a charger, another uses batteries. The one I am using is neither of those, a Sony Cybershot (DSC W-220).
Rock Pigeon () on powerline with a smaller bird, which looks like a House Sparrow. EMBIGGEN!
I now have three rechargeable batteries and two battery chargers for it. I also now have the cable I need to access it via USB. I was able to find the manual online for it, too.
I have pretty much have no photographic experience. Although, I did develop some black and white pictures I took in grade school. So this is a learning experience. After recharging the battery, I turned it on to see if it works. I was prompted to set the time and date, then I turned it off and left it alone for a while. I took some pictures, but couldn’t access them.
My PC doesn’t have a port for the SD card and I can’t find the adaptor I have for it. I had to get a special cable to fit into the camera’s proprietary port that would let me connect to it via USB. It has A/V cables on it, too, so it seems I could hook it up to a TV.
I’ve seen a couple plants around that I wanted to get some pictures of to share with you. After snapping some pictures, I noticed in the manual how to use the auto-focus, so I went back out and did that properly.
I saw some black birds in the backyard. I assumed they were “blackbirds.” Since I wanted to know what they were, I took Merlin’s ear out with me, but this time I brought my camera along. It turns out they were Common Grackles. This is a bird I was already aware of. Over a decade ago, I had a bird book (which has been misplaced) that helped me learn about them. I thought the color of their plumage was interesting. It looks like an oil slick. If you look at it in the right light, you can see an oily black rainbow. I wasn’t able to catch them on camera, but I have a sound clip for you. It sounds very much like the fourth sound clip on AllAboutBirds.org, which is the first titled “Calls.”
A couple of pigeons on a powerline. EMBIGGEN!
These pictures may not be of the greatest quality, but they’re not the worst. EMBIGGENING them makes them look a bit more ugly, but I’ve given you that option. It’s interesting that these are 1080p. I was impressed when I saw that cell phones are using 4K. I still don’t do 4K gaming, but I have a monitor that lets me do 2K (and it’s an impressive upgrade from 1920X1200).
I still have some learning to do about this camera. Hopefully, I’ll learn how to get better quality pictures. Some of these aren’t bad. I tend to shake and it’s hard for me to keep my hands still enough, which leads to blurry pictures. A tripod could help. I think there’s a hole on the bottom for one.
First, the title picture is Common Soapwart. I waited to get an ID from iNaturalist (along with some of the others here). I was told Granny really liked them.
Merlin identified many birds. There were some I wasn’t sure about, because it tends to pick up things when I’m walking on gravel. This is only one reason why I try to walk on the grass. I also want to not scare birds away. I also like to go under roofs so that they can’t see me as well. I like to be sneaky around them.
Pigeons on a powerline. EMBIGGEN!
I heard a very chatty bird and thought it was a Northern Cardinal, but Merlin detected a Carolina Wren. Now I have a couple more birds confused. I feel more aware of bird sounds. Lately my mind keeps thinking I hear cardinals all the time, but now I’m wondering if I’m confusing them with wrens. Here’s something I picked up with Merlin that sounds like one or both of these two. You can listen to it here.
I do have this interesting clip of a Northern Cardinal. It starts with a bit of a “peep” here and there and then gets really excited towards the end. You can listen to that here.
One bird I’m never mistaken about is the Chimney Swift. They are very distinct to my ears. They are one of the first birds I learned when I got that book I mentioned. They come up in almost every recording I make with Merlin. I have an interesting clip of their rapid sound trailing off at the end. I think it’s interesting and you can hear it here.
American Robins
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) in lawn. EMBIGGEN!
American Robin on fence in backyard. EMBIGGEN!
American Robins make up a very large part of the bird population around me. This is one of two birds Merlin Sound has always detected every time I’ve gone out listening. I’m happy I can now ID them. I have mixed feelings about how they sound. I remember them in a video game I played, which is a nice memory. They also make me think of mornings, which is my least favorite part of the day (and one in which I purposely avoid most of the time. Yet the dawn approaches.) Merlin’s ear told me that Robins are the only birds performing the local dawn chorus. While not the dawn chorus, you can here them in a short clip I made here. You may also hear my footsteps and a Chimney Swift.
Would you look at that? It looks like I got a BIF! EMBIGGEN!
House Sparrows
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) on a powerline. EMBIGGEN!
American Robins House Sparrows make up a very large part of the bird population around me. This is one of two birds Merlin Sound has always detected every time I’ve gone out listening. I see them all the time. Sometimes Merlin detects Song Sparrows, too. I haven’t put forth much effort into being able to distinguish the two yet. If you’d like to get a good listen as to what it generally sounds like in my back yard, you can listen to the House Sparrows here.
House Sparrow perched on fence. EMBIGGEN!
Perched House Sparrow looks to the side. EMBIGGEN!
House Sparrows seem to get along well with other birds. On the front porch I see them feeding with House Finches, pigeons, cardinals, and Blue Jays. Squirrels like to visit, too. There are cats around, too, but I don’t usually see carcasses. However, a cat did drag a sparrow into the house recently, but it luckily got away.
House Sparrow on powerline. EMBIGGEN!
House Sparrow on powerline. EMBIGGEN!
The House Finches were here, but I decided to make them my title image after separating this Bucket. I still mention them, because I wanted to point out that I do not hear or see them in the backyard. They pretty much stay up front. Merlin won’t even detect them until I get very close to the porch. (Remember how I mentioned the feeding frenzy that goes on there?)
The Gray Catbird
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) perched on a tree limb. EMBIGGEN
Out with Merlin’s Sound ID ready to go, I heard a bird I didn’t recognize. When I found it, Merlin told me it was a Gray Catbird. It flew around, changing where it perched, probably because I unintentionally scared it off. I was able to follow it around since I had just become aware of it’s sound. I was able to get these pictures. I am most disappointed that I wasn’t able to get better pictures. At one point I was just snapping into the trees only to realize later after viewing the pictures that it wasn’t there anymore. Unfortunately, they’re very blurry. Hopefully I can get some better ones in the future.
Blurry Gray Catbird perched on a power line. EMBIGGEN!
I do have a clip that you can listen to here. It sounds much like the first song at AllAboutBirds.org. You can hear me taking a picture.
Pigeons
iNaturalist users are still saying “Feral pigeon” while I started with “Rock pigeon.” Many of you here said the latter, but helped me learn they’re essentially the same. I’m still trying to get a good picture of the very black and white pigeon around. It looks smaller than the others and is making me wonder if it’s a dove instead. Hopefully, I’ll get some pictures of it to share later. For now, here’s a bunch of pigeons. I just saw it on the powerline with the others recently as I was leaving the house and I told it, “I see you!”
Flock of pigeons on powerline near roof. EMBIGGEN!
Pigeon on roof. EMBIGGEN!
Pigeons on a powerline and roof. EMBIGGEN! The second one from the left looks more white, but could that be light reflection?
The moth
I found this as I was moving around following the Catbird. iNaturalist says it’s a Large Lace-border Moth. I’m disappointed that the camera didn’t focus well enough. I think it’d be a good idea to figure out how to use the manual focus and see if I can get a better picture that way. Remember how I mentioned my hand shakiness? For some of these pictures (I took more than these two, but these were the best that showed up), I put my chest and belly to the ground, positioning myself like many other photographers I’ve seen.
Large Lace-border Moth (Scopulalimboundata) EMBIGGEN!
It really wasn’t very large at all. I’d say it was about the average size of butterfly or moth. The leaves and clovers in these pictures help give a sense of scale, I hope. EMBIGGEN!
Common House Spider
This Bucket was originally going to be a lot creepier, but I decided not to include some pictures I originally intended. I decided that if they bothered me, then it’d probably be best not to make someone else feel the same. The next two pictures are “creepy,” sure, but not as disturbing as the ones I decided not to include.
I’m going to say this is a Common House Spider (Parasteatodatepidariorum). No one on iNaturalist has said anything about this yet. EMBIGGEN!
This spider was one of the first things that impressed me most with this camera. Through the view, it looked like the camera was able to focus on the spider really well. I’m disappointed that the pictures themselves aren’t as impressive.
Common House Spider just dangling. EMBIGGEN!
“You spin me round.” EMBIGGEN!
Thanks for joining me for my fourth Bucket! Now let me know what you’ve been observing! What’s going on in the world around you? How’s the weather? What birds and other animals are you hearing and seeing? Are you seeing any cool flora you want to share? Please feel free! The Daily Bucket is all about phenology and if you’d like to get a better understanding of that term you can check out this awesome post by Besame!
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