Farm Report: Our Humming Bird Heaven

This video is about 1 minute and 45 seconds long. I was trying out my new Canon ZR-800 mini DV camcorder on our local hummingbirds. One of them seemed to be posing for me, and I was able to zoom in really close. It was hand-held, if I had a tripod I could have even zoomed in closer. Next time I'll set up the tripod.

I've tried uploading this video as a high quality DV file, size of about 100MB, but it would not upload, it would try for hours, then fail with an error. So I've uploaded this copy I made, using the .wmv format that's specifically recommended for internet video by my editing software, using the highest resolution setting it allowed. The copy was only 25MB, and it only took about 16 minutes to upload to blogger.

It's not bad, it's just that the original footage on my hard drive is sharper and better. I don't know if there is another web host that would let me upload higher quality video, I'll have to look into that. Here's a few still shots from the video:



We have several feeders on the front and back porches. They seem to really love it here. Hopefully I'll get some good footage of the swarms that happen sometimes.



I'm very happy with this camcorder. The image quality is outstanding. The biggest complaint about the camera by people who have purchased it has been that you can hear the motor of the camera in the recorded footage.

Now while you are looking at this footage, if you listen closely, you can hear a high pitched whine. THAT is the sound of the motor, being picked up by the camcorders built-in microphone. Some people find it totally unacceptable, while others are not bothered by it at all.

Ideally it shouldn't have the motor noise, but it's not deafening. Listen and judge for yourself. But it's worth noting that this model has a jack for an external mic, which is highly unusual for a camcorder in this price range. Some reviewers say they solved the noise problem by using an external mic. I purchased an external condenser microphone for about $20, but I have not tried it out yet. I still have lots of experimenting to do!


Related Links:

Farm Report: two chicks in a screen test

Video Camcorders: Cheap or Pricey? A comparison of the Canon ZR800 and HV20
     

A Hummingbird Party

Here is something I got in my email:

WOW!

This is something I have never seen before, or ever even heard of. This lady lives in a Hummingbird fly zone. As they migrated, about 20 of them were in her yard. Just for a lark, she took the little red dish and filled it with sugar water and this is the result.

Snopes.com verifies that the story is true, and provides further details:

A Hummingbird in the Hand.

It seems the photo owners, Sam & Abigail Alfano, emailed the photos to friends, not realizing that the friends would forward them to their friends, and soon the pics would be sent all around the world.

The Alfanos also have their own web page:

The Hummingbird Lady

On that page, Abigail explains how the photos came to be:

"I am Abigail Alfano, the woman in the photos. My husband, Sam is the photographer. We live in Pine, Louisiana which is approximately 1 1/2 hours north of New Orleans.This year we had more hummingbirds in our yard than I ever recall. The feeder sits right outside of my window where I drink my morning coffee. I remember watching the birds one morning and telling my husband that I wish I could just hold one! We decided to give it a shot."

"Over the course of several days, I would simply stand beside the feeder so that they would get used to my presence. Then, I began putting my hands around the feeder so that in order to drink they had to land on my fingers. I was amazed at how quickly they were willing to do this.

The next step was to remove the feeder and place a small red cap on an old milk can in the same area. They eventually found the small replacement and began feeding. The morning the photos were taken, I simply went outside and filled the cap with the sugar water, placed it in the palm of my hand, and sat very very still. Within ten minutes, they were resting in my hands, drinking. It was sheer delight for me! I was even able to move my hands around a bit with the birds on my fingers. They are light as a feather...and simply beautiful. I can't wait until next year."

See their site for more information. Please note that the photos are copyrighted. Someone in Tennesse fraudulently entered one in a photo contest and won, but they were exposed.

You can see more hummingbird photos from their photo gallery.