Birding App for iPod

December 9, 2009 by Bob Zeller

For you that may be interested, I just discovered a new app that is available for iPod Touch or iPod Phone. It is Birdseye. You can, based on the location that you enter, find local birds, locate birding hotspots, locate specific birds, update you life list, etc. I love it, and it is getting great reviews. It does sell for 19.95, but in my opinion it is well worth the money. I know that I will use it quite a lot, since I like to travel a bit.

By the way, I updated my life list on it, and my total is up to 182. Far from being an expert, but I’m having great fun.

Another app that I already have is iBird Explorer Pro. It is a complete field guide to all the birds of North America. For any bird you can find photos, information on range, facts, identity information, ecology, etc. A really fantastic guide. It is wonderful to be able to have such information in the palm of your hand. It beats carrying around a bunch of books.

I asked for birding info from Suzanne Johnson vis-a-vis the treatment ponds near Eldorado. She has been keeping a list, and she says she has seen 180 different species there so far.

I got an unusual response to my previous blog about the low amount of donations at the Friends of SASP party. Mike Ziegler, in Austin, Texas has written that he wants to make a donation. I think that it is wonderful that an individual from another city, wants to help us out at the park. Since I may have been a little outspoken on that subject, I have a feeling that I may not be invited to next year’s party. 🙂

Happy Birding!!

Eldorado re-visited

November 23, 2009 by Bob Zeller

In my excitement of talking about the great things of the new Canon EOS 7d, I forgot to mention about all the species that we saw at the water treatment ponds down at Eldorado. Surprisingly, there was a great assortment of

Vesper Sparrow

water birds. I saw my first Canvasback, plus Green-winged Teals, Blue-winged Teals, Eared Grebes, Lesser Scaups, one Widgeon, a Mallard, and several Coots. Also, an Eastern Phoebe, a Vesper Sparrow. a Great Blue Heron and a Snowy Egret.

Here in San Angelo, Mike Erb, a friend of mine, reported that he saw a Blue-headed Vireo in his back yard.

Happy Birding!!

More photos at www.zellertexasphotos.com

Canon EOS 7D Report

November 21, 2009 by Bob Zeller

I drove down to Eldorado today to try out my new Canon 7D. Suzanne Johnson had told us there were quite a few ducks that had arrived. This camera is amazing. I used my 500mm with a 1.4 teleconverter attached. The auto-focus was instantaneous. The 8 frames per sec was like a quiet machine gun. I was shooting at aperture priority at f5.6. These subjects in the following photos were at least 100 yards distant. They were about the size of my focus point in my view finder, so obviously I had to crop extensibly to get these close-ups. Check ’em out.