Birdcam Antics: Hummers, Orioles and Woodpeckers

I figured it was time for me to put my Wingscapes Birdcam to good use again. And with the arrival of some of our exciting and colorful summer residents, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to see just who visits our hummingbird feeders while we're not at home.

I tried two seperate locations to play around with lighting and angles. This first movie, compiled from clips spanning from 6:18am to around 4:15pm yesterday, was at the feeders' normal location, hanging from the eaves of the house near our dining room window:



For this second movie, compiled from today's clips, I moved the most popular feeder to the clothesline in our backyard to try to take advantage of the more direct sunlight. I'd never keep the feeder out there during the height of summer, so this was my opportunity during the cooler spring to try it out. It took much longer for the birds to find it, with the first hummer not arriving until 7:08am. Eventually, everyone did find it, but considerably less activity. Yesterday the cam captured 505 10-second clips while today's location only captured 137.



I particularly liked the unexpected visitor at 0:22, and the look on the Black-chinned Hummingbird's face when he looks back at the camera at the one-minute mark. Priceless!