Here are a few videos I've been storing on my computer. I'm obviously not cut out as a videographer, but you get the idea. These are some of my favorites from my video collection.
This Red-shouldered hawk was the first to pass through of the season Cape May, in fall 2009. We had just finished watching the raptor "show," and the crowd had just left. A man walked in with this hawk in a can, and asked if the show was over. We said it was, but they ended up showing it to a few people that were still around. He was not happy, as you can tell by this video. He later flew right past the hawk watch, so everyone there got a good look.
This is an american woodcock at Necedah NWR, April 2008. He was standing in the road while I was checking on whoooping cranes around the refuge. I got out of my truck, and he slipped into the grass, bobbing his head all along, try to blend in. I got within a few feet of him, and I think he was convinced I didn't see him.
This is the 2007 cohort of DAR whooping crane chicks flying to me (costumed!) in late 2007, shortly before release. This was what entailed putting the cranes away for the night. At this time, they were left alone all day and checked on periodically from far away. When the costume would reappear at the end of the day, the chicks wanted to be very close to it and followed it anywhere, in this case, right into their night pen. It also helped that the costume carried food...
This is the pair of lapland longspurs that I found while walking around the refuge in spring 2008. They stuck around for about 2 weeks or so.
Trumpeter courtship on Necedah NWR.
This video shows how hard it can be to spot a saw-whet owl in dense mountain laurel.
This is a video of how a radio-transmitter is attached to a saw-whet owl, with Scott Weidensaul and Drew Weber. They are never happy to receive the transmitter, but once it is on, they don't even know its there.
hello anna. so in the whooping crane video - you say "costumed"...what does that mean, exactly?
ReplyDeletechris (chris markiewicz - alex's friend that joined you for the allen's/conowingo/sandhill trip...)
Chris...well when raising the cranes, people wear crane costumes, believe it or not. It is done so that the cranes are not habituated to people. It actually seems to work. I raised 11 whooping crane chicks that summer, and they followed me (and two other interns) around all summer through marshes and fields, because they thought we were their "moms." Basically we taught them how to be cranes. They actually mimicked a lot of the behaviors we did. We were also equipped with a crane "puppet" head which we used to show them how to catch bugs. The crane costume is just a large white costume (think sheet) with a mesh hood that you can see out of, but the cranes cant see in. You run and flap and act like a crane, and the cranes love it. Pretty odd, but fun!
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