Tag-Teaming Crows!!!!

After the few days of the “squirrels-only” project, I wanted to try and attract the crows again. I’ve been getting little pecks of interest here and there with the crows since the big events last week, but nothing really serious - there’s a piece of bread on the ground, a black beak comes in from the side and *yoink* - it’s gone. That’s about all I’ve seen of the crows in the last few days - but at least they’re still there.

So on Monday, I asked around and found (well, my mother found it eventually, actually :)) a page on feeding crows. They suggested apples, cheese and bread, while I suggested many times “this will never work!!” Cut up a small bit of apple, a few small pieces of a white american cheese slice, and left the bread in the bag that’s been in there since I put it out for the squirrels… it was now ready for it’s adoring crow public. Of course, just like I thought - it didn’t work. A few squirrels came here and there, and I had a Black Vulture that flew over the house but didn’t land (wouldn’t that be cool to see on cam!!!!) but no crows… Tuesday came, one crow grabbed a small piece of bread that was laying on the ground again, and that was it… but still, at least they’re still coming back!

But then… on Wednesday, things changed for the better!… (→ continue on with March 14, 2007 - Tag-Teaming Crows!!!!!)

 

 Tag-Teaming Crows!!!!, 3-14-07 [4:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

After a few days with little-to-no success with the crow-oriented Backyard Bag Feeder Project design with the crows, I figured I’d make new squirrels-only Feeder mat with peanuts instead of bread. I cut a new piece of foam, made a few hidden compartments (and a few somewhat obvious compartments), put a little bread in the side (you know, just in case a crow would decide to check things out) and filled all of the other compartments with peanuts. Since I’ve done this project time and time again with the squirrels, I really didn’t think I was going to have a problem getting them to come around…

Well, last year about this time, I had a similar project going for weeks until I got even one squirrel interested enough to come into the frame of the shot (I had the cameras set up as minimalistically as possible so the movement wouldn’t disturb them, so I couldn’t move the shot), let alone tear into the Feeder to get the nuts out. The main reason for the lack of squirrels last year was mainly the nest that was… let’s just say “taken down” (”torn down” would be more like it) by order of the local code enforcer. Yeah, that’s a wonderful thing to find out once you’ve finally saved up enough money to get a lens long enough to watch the squirrel’s nest, isn’t it…?

That was last year though -

this year, the yard is filled with squirrels’ nests, so that means it’s filled with squirrels! (I can’t help but think the November-December vertical feeder project helped with that a little :)), …sooo no problem getting squirrels to come this time! - Although it took a little longer for them to come around, they came, they sniffed and they ripped into the Feeder mat - the first one into the Feeder was interesting to watch, because it just stood there, kind of half-interested… and then it tore into it! And now that I have the mic feeding in from the outside (it’s actually sitting inside the mat!), I have awesome sounds of the squirrels near, on and ripping in to the bag!

 

 For Squirrel Eyes Only!, 3-12-07 [5:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

…for Abi~

Snowy Squirrel… on tree…

One of the most aggrivating taping sessions in awhile… don’t you just love it when the shots don’t line up anything close to what you’re going for…? Well, this was one of those days. Of course, the squirrels don’t face the camera, they’re always on the other side… the tripod is either just too short or too long, and… and… and…!! Well, at least I did manage to get some shots of squirrels out in the snow!

 

 Snowy Squirrel on Tree, 2-13-07 [0:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

HD sunset… just… because.

 

 A Mid-Winter’s Dreamscape Sunset (Small HD Version) [0:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

On New Year’s Day, I had a chance to set cameras up to tape some casual squirrel moments… In the one, a squirrel eats a nut and towards the end seems to rub it’s face on the tree-bark… I’m not sure why it did that, because I don’t think they scent-mark like that, so I’m kinda confused…

Aah, the feel of tree bark… ohhh…

And the confusion doesn’t end there… the 2nd video is a squirrel doing what looks like a dry heave to me… I’m not sure what it’s doing, if it’s defensive or just a temperature reaction, but it’s weird looking! The video itself is only 40 seconds and shows a little of the squirrel’s strangeness, but the event went on for about 10 minutes! Is it hiccupping? I don’t know!

 

 Tree-face Squirrel Rub-down!, 1-1-07 [0:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Dry heaving? What's this squirrel doing?!, 1-1-07 [0:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Apparently my Backyard Bag “Pillow-Feeder”-esque Feeder Project is becoming so popular with the squirrels in the area, that they’re beginning to quabble over it… I caught at least 4 pairs of squirrels doing a dominance challenge, complete with (very good) natural sounds of them whining at each other! Very interesting stuff in my opinion!

It’s mine!!
Video follows below…

I took everything in last night because it was supposed to snow today… the sun streaming in through the window seemingly mocks me…

Picture and video in this post © Zach Glenwright

 

 Squirrels with Something to Say! [1:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Look at how cold he looks… Not the most exciting squirrel, not the most extreme video — but still cool for those of us who are somewhat squirrel-centric~

Squirrel reflecting… with it’s reflection… video follows below…

No music this time though - I couldn’t think of an appropriate theme for the soundtrack, and when I do, all I can think of is either a commercial piece or a music library piece that I can’t use… so if you need a soundtrack, check for a song called “Destination Pulsation” from an album called “Rhythmworx” - that’s the closest piece that I could find to fit the video, but I can’t use the song, because I don’t have a license… Abi, could you think of a song that’s usable that would fit this?

Picture and video in this post © Zach Glenwright

 

 2 Minutes of Squirrel Reflection, 12-2-06 [2:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

It’s been yet another few rainy (or at least impending-rain-ish) days, and now everything’s normalized weather-wise. Out goes everything back up at my Pillow-Feeder-esque version of the Backyard Bag Feeder Project to do some more vertical project tests… but I made the challenge a little easier this time. A little while back, I remember Chris saying something to the tune of “I could have made it harder, but I have it set up so that there’s something to watch when people check in.” Well, I figured the same thing would be better, so I lowered the entire feeder to only 1″ off of the ground. I’ve been getting tired of waiting an entire day for one squirrel to check it out and go “err… nah!”, so I figured I’d give this a go - the squirrels still have the climbing challenge, and that’s one of the main things I wanted to get shots of, so I just set it all up and let the day take form.

I thought I told you to turn that camera off!!

Well, I only got one squirrel today also, but this one squirrel was determined to get the nuts out of the Feeder - all kinds of interesting squirrel activity followed! Running back and forth, jumping on the top and hanging from there, climbing on it sideways, sometimes doing all of those in 2 seconds - a lot better than anything I’ve captured in the last week or so (except for Monday and a few shots on Tuesday), and with this new shot, not only does it cut back on glare, but you can see the squirrels come down the tree before going to the feeder - a nice little addition to the ambiance of the shot.

I also tried a little mini-test where I put a nut on the mic and held it on with rubber bands to see if anyone would be interested in that nut - no one really did any work to get the nut off there, but I did see the one squirrel sniffing at it once or twice. Maybe they’ll notice that more tomorrow?

Time will tell…

Picture and video in this post © Zach Glenwright

 

 Backyard Bag Feeder Project 12-2-06 [6:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

This is a sure-tell sign that it’s about to rain soon…

…I usually see about 3 or 4 squirrels resting in the trees like this when it’s about to get rainy… so it’s a good time to check the trees for possible shots! Video follows below, and due to advice from past shots like this, I composed a short-length light dreamy-like musical background piece in Soundtrack to compliment the video…

Picture and video in this post © Zach Glenwright

 

 the Sleepy Squirrel!, 11-29-06 [1:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

This is a somewhat longer clip than I normally post: 10 minutes of feeding captured over the course of about an hour this afternoon in video, rather than the webcams. It has almost everything - suspense, action, acrobatics, fight scene, romance … well OK, I lied about the last one; maybe in the sequel?

This post, as well as the picture and video from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

 

 Lots of Feeding Fun, 11-29-06 [10:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

As far as I can tell, this squirrel has been in this feeder for almost a whole day - at least, he’s been there every time I’ve looked out or looked on the cams this afternoon. And he’s territorial about it too, I watched him chase another squirrel off across the whole tree when it attempted to share the feeder with him. No wonder I’m having to fill this feeder every day!

Meanwhile, yesterdays bag of nuts lasted less than a day so I’ve put out a new one, suitably improved thanks to Abi’s suggestion.

This post and the pictures from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

Yet more vertical squirrely-ness from yesterday’s Backyard Bag Feeder Project’s version of the vertical Pillow Feeder-esque feeder! They seem to like the seeds almost more then the peanuts… hmm…, what does that tell me…?

Gimme!!

Well, it’s come to the point in the week where the squirrels are interested… what does that mean? It’s scheduled to rain again! Tomorrow, Thursday and Friday — don’t you just love it when it works out like that…?? I’m going to try a much larger version of this large version of the vertical feeder that’s going to be my “Mark 3″ as it were for Backyard Bag Feeders… More on that as it develops… and it stops raining… and I can finally put my cords and equipment out… and the squirrels re-re-re-re-acclimate to it… and… and… and…… eh, it’ll be a little while…

 

 Backyard Bag Feeder Project 11-28-06 [8:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

This post and the pictures from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

This post and the picture from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

Pssst… other side, idiot!!

This post and the picture from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

I put the pillow feeder back up today, now on the restored Camera 1. I had to dash out, but before leaving, I came back into the house to take a quick look and make sure the camera was pointed in the right direction - and there was already a squirrel on the feeder! So I only had time to grab this quick clip but here’s the first squirrel of the day making the first hole in the bag and helping himself to the first nut. No doubt there will be more holes and a lot less nuts by this time tomorrow. I am leaving the trough birdfeeder on camera 4 as it’s also very popular with the squirrels and you can often see one on there, but the tray feeder is temporarily not on display as camera 7 is down until I feel like persuading Windows to recognise the drivers again.

This post, as well as the picture and video from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

 

 First nut, 11-27-06 [0:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

I moved the entire Backyard Bag Feeder up the clothespole a little to see if the squirrels would acclimate to the new height - well, they didn’t seem to have any problems this time! You can see all of their attempts at besting the higher project in the video below…

Beta Tester
(thanks again to Chris Osborne for the caption…)

This feed was recorded on November 22, right before a huge rainstorm hit — it rained all night Wednesday, then all day on Thursday, so I didn’t have a chance to set anything major out on Thursday… I do have the Feeder Project out today (the 24th) though! I’ve done the following things to make it a little different…

• Change the shot - the shot’s now on a tripod, instead of the ground-level shot - having the feeder elevated kind of screwed the shot I’d get on the ground anyway, and with this setup, the exposure is a lot better!
• Change the project - on Wednesday, I had the Feeder project tied to the pole with wireties. Now it’s hanging from a wire and lightly secured on the bottom to the pole - this will be interesting to see if they’ll figure this version out (probably…)
• Add a mic - I added my shotgun mic to the pole, so that even though the camera is moved away from the shot, the sound won’t be compromised…

 

 Backyard Bag Feeder Project 11-22-06 [5:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

A very happy thanksgiving to my viewers (both of you)
Ok now we’ve got that out of the way … there has been a load of activity in the yard and here are just a couple of clips of it. The first was captured yesterday evening and the second this morning, and you’ll see how much seed has disappeared out of the pillow feeder in that time - just about all of it. It’s interesting to see that some squirrels will go straight for this feeder, which is far tougher to access than the tray right next door, while others prefer the easier option. In the second clip, a squirrel frantic to get at the very last of the seed actually gets all the way into the bag and has to wriggle out again. I think he gives himself a bit of a scare, but it doesn’t stop him and he’s back again immediately.

Footnote: by lunchtime they’d cleared out all the seeds, the bottom of the bag was neatly chewed open right from one end to the other. As I’ve temporarily run out of bags, that feeder will be down for a short while.

This post and the videos from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

 

 Thanksgiving Movie #1, 11-23-06 [5:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Thanksgiving Movie #2, 11-23-06 [4:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

This is a slightly better quality clip of a squirrel on the pillow feeder. Not terrific and certainly not up to Zach’s quality as it was shot at a high level of digital zoom, but at least there is a better and more colorful image than I can provide with the webcams.

This post, as well as the picture and video from it are © 2006 Chris Osborne, originally published on The Backyard Voyeur. The “Pillow Feeder” is his feeder project based on my (Zach Glenwright’s) Backyard Bag Feeder Project…

 

 A slightly better clip, 11-22-06 [2:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Due to the bag falling over on the 20th towards the end, I wanted to make a more sturdy design, so I tied the chain I was using to hang the bag up to the pole down with a wiretie and put a large rock in front of the bag to keep them from pulling it down (which did cut the challenge back a little but not too much!) One more day, I left everything sit outside, and true to the 20th’s project, nothing happened during the day… no interested squirrels, no squirrels even in the area… nothing. But fortunately for me, and also similarly to the 20th’s project, the cavalcade of squirrels came around at about 4pm — they’re still interested, and they’ll stop at nothing to get the nuts out of the bag, even if it means climbing down from the top of it! A few squirrels (it may have been the same one more than once) climbed up to the top of the mat to get the nuts out of the top of it! As you can see, they’re getting more acrobatic, they’re more interested in it (one of them even scent marks it, at about 1:50 in, making it theirs) and they’re more into the challenge of the hanging feeder idea! Next time… the entire setup will be about an inch higher off of the ground… but rain’s coming, and that severely limits the length that I can keep cameras outside, $10 camera or not!

 

 BBFP 11-21-06 Aerial squirrels!, 450Kbps Version [6:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup