Blue Honeycreepers

Cornell University has started tagging feeder birds with tiny RFID tags to track where and what they eat. Here is the text from the YouTube video description:
The same technology used to locate lost pets is now being used to track common backyard birds. Scientists and students at the Cornell Lab have collected data on hundreds of thousands of feeder visits so far by Black-capped Chickadees and other birds. Tiny tags weighing less than one-tenth of a gram are attached to the birds’ legs and are detected each time the birds visit specially-rigged feeders. Watch this in which David Bonter describes the radio frequency identification (RFID) technique and what we can learn by keeping track of who’s coming to dinner.

To learn more please visit: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/

Last Spring as we were walking through the tulip garden (not roses ) at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden a robin started to tell us a story. We started to video him and apparently he liked the attention because he kept walking and talking with us. Enjoy

Due to construction nearby, a nest of baby starlings was destroyed and a neighbor brought the birds to me. In the past I hand raised parrots, cockatiels and other birds, so I had some experience. Thanks to some internet research I found the right diet mix to feed these guys. They are 12 and 10 days old when this video was made.

Make sure after you feed European Starlings that you give them a clean bed. They poop as they eat, making a nice mess. Using layers of paper towels is very helpful. Don’t put them in a box with no padding, they can’t get traction on a smooth surface.

Big John’s Pond is a manmade pond at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens New York City. It is a small pond, with a Barn Owl nest box on the far side, but it is a fairly active spot for birdwatching. There is a bird blind that allows for great birdwatching. The video above is the pond, the video below is the walkway to get to it.

This video is shot from the blind out to the path. You can hear the birds AND the tree frogs. It’s a peaceful place, the blind usually has a birder or two, either with a scope or a camera, always pointing out what is happening on the pond when you walk into the blind.

You can’t see them but you can hear them! Nice relaxing video of the east side of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens New York City. A nice spring day, sit back and relax and listen without trying to see anything but nice green trees. If you know what some of the bird sounds are, please leave a comment and let us know! Enjoy this trio of videos.

Ducks in New York City? Yup, they are everywhere. On our way walking to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens NY we saw an inlet to the bay from the main road that had a quartet of white ducks just hanging out. You can hear a bus starting up in the background, the driver was taking a break enjoying the ducks as well.

Beautiful cardinal in a tree in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden above the Rose Garden. He stuck around for a short time, my grandson was trying to get a photo and by the time we got him moved, the cardinal flew away. In the background you can hear the sound of maintenance being done in the garden. Video was shot in early May 2010.

Welcome to the Cool Birds website for cool birders, new and experienced, to share their bird photos and help each other identify their bird sightings and photos. Check back soon for the photo galleries and community where you can share your birding knowledge.

Photographer Deborah Carney in Bird Blind at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Vinny O'Hare.

Photographer Vinny O'Hare and a Friendly Seagull at Redondo Beach California. Photo by Deborah Carney