A Walk in Gallup Park and first lesson in Digiscoping

I have recently developed an interest in the Digiscoping technique. Michigander Jerry Jourdan's Blog or Wisconsin Based Mike McDowell for instance, shows some miraculous (depending of my mood, I sometimes found them disgustingly sharp and perfect) avian pictures, just by the use of a (high end) scope, a tiny point and (good) point & shoot camera, and a generally hand made adaptor. All my tries so far had been exclusively hand held (no adaptor, no shutter release), and the results were ranging from extremely bad to barely mediocre. Facing the reality of tough economic times, and without having $5,000 to spend into a DSLR camera equipped with a disproportionate appendix (I am not not sure if I would like to carry one of these things anyway), I thought this technique was certainly worth exploring.

So armed with various handsaw and other curiously inefficient tools, I managed to create a decent adaptor from a plastic cup. The results can be certainly greatly improved by using power tools, but I guess I did it only to give me a taste of the technique.

The first results are shown below. In fact the first pictures I really took were a box of vitamins on the other side of the yard, but, I choose to show birds instead. I quickly found out that the mode "quick burst" of my tiny camera had the great advantage of taking 10 frames a second, thus increasing statistically the chances to obtain one decent shot. On the down side, though, this mode "push" automatically the camera into the high ISOs (800) which theoretically should increase the graininess of the shot. In addition, the camera reduces the size of the picture to only 2.3 mega pixels, instead of the 8 or 5. But I thought it was a good starting point.

American Goldfinch, digiscoped

Pine Siskin, digiscoped

Female Downy Woodpecker, digiscoped

Results were not too bad for a first try, but I had to try on further birds.

So I went to Gallup park last Sunday, trying to experiment on the increasing number of waterfowl present on the Huron River. A detail of importance, the temperature was 15F (-8C), and the windchill around 0F (-17C). I usually dont care too much about windchill, because a good winter coat and gloves offer good protection against the wind, so windchill does not really count

Biking Path in Gallup Park

I first spotted a group of Common Mergansers swimming at about 150 feet away. I thought it was a good starting point. Ok, here is my adaptor, I set up my scope and try to attach my camera to the adaptor. Mmm not easy with these big gloves. Ok I'll take them off. Ok, now I try to set up the camera to the proper mode, despite the velcro bands that partially cover the buttons. MMM not easy.


I take a few shots of the Mergansers. Left hand fingers on the focus knob, right hand on the camera. Boy, it is cold here

digiscoped Common Merganser defending his freedom of speech

Male Hooded Merganser, digiscoped

After 2-3 minutes, my fingers are numb, and I have to reluctantly admit my defeat. I quickly come back to my car and tried to warm up my fingers. Slowly, Painfully, sensation comes back and I am ready for another walk. This time I decided to only take my binoculars and the camera.

Despite the cold, there was a feeling that spring was not too far away. Numerous chikadees were singing, as well as several Tufted Titmice and Cardinals. Along the sidewalk I spot several bluebirds.

As I walk leisurely on the path, I can not help but thinking about the spring that will come soon. Already the first redwinged blackbirds have been spotted in the county, and a few tree swallows were found on the shore of lake Erie. In a bit more than a month, we should be able to see the first warblers, probably a yellow rumped.

And maybe, more chances to train for digiscoping in warmer weather!!!!!

Bluebird, digibinned

Winter birding at Lake Erie Metropark

As liquid water as pretty much disappeared from Washtenaw county, except a little stretch of water at the beach of the arb, Diane offered me last Saturday the opportunity to go birding at Lake Erie Metropark, as she has another cat show at Allen Park. Saturday was a magnificent - and frigid - day, one of these days where Mr Winter shines, and when you don't regret at all the cloudy and rainy winters of the north of France. Oh boy, I love winter birding, for 3 reasons :

- First, you don't have to wake up at 5 in the morning and rush out to Starbucks (or, depending on the economic situation, Mc Donald's) and rush out to Crane Creek or Pointe Pelee to be there at dawn....So winter birding means waking up at 9 AM, drinking a warm coffee in the sofa and watching the Juncos and chikadees having breakfeast with the lone Pine Siskin that we have currently in our garden. Then, only after you have watched the news and drinked your second cup of coffee, you can fix some french toasts, and eat them while having your third cup of coffee, and start to think about how many layers you will wear today

- Second, for some strange reason , you have the whole park for yourself, most of the time. I mean, 1000 acres of marshland and lakes just for you and your binoculars. Which means you will never meet anybody who will tell you " what a shame you came so late, this morning we had an Iceland gull on the beach". Of course, you will never meet anybody to brag out about the very nice bird you just saw, either

- Third, it is usually so cold that you never regret to have a bit more time to do more birding.

As I arrived, the Parc Ranger told me : " you should probably go on the south side, on the north side, there is only mute swans". There was, effectively, a few mute swans. hundreds or even thousands of them, mixed with Tundra and Trumpeter's. There were also thousands of Canevasbacks (6,000?), hundreds of common mergansers and redheads, as well as all the commoners of michigan. What a show!!!!!! On the raptor side, a Northern Harrier was spotted, and a dozen Bald Eagles (half of them being juvenile) were seen flying over the open water

Lake Erie metropark Lakeshore

Mute Swans and Tundra Swan, and Canvasback, digiscoped

Seeking a respite from the cold wind, I later went birding in the woods, close from the Hawk watching site. Here a few song birds, such as Robins, a lone Brown Creeper, White Throated Sparrows. But the stars of the day were a large flock of Redpolls (my first this winter). Among them, I noticed a much paler bird, making me think about the You-know-who.....But this tiny fellow did not want to be taken in picture, probably thinking that he deserved better than a digibinned picture. His darker friends were more cooperative...

American Robin, digibinned

Common Redpoll, digibinned


The Complete List was :

Location: Lake Erie MetroparkObservation date: 1/24/09Notes: 10F, clear skyNumber of species: 27 Canada Goose 0Mute Swan 3000Tundra Swan 2000American Black Duck 12Mallard 24Canvasback 6000Redhead 200Ring-necked Duck 12Lesser Scaup 12Bufflehead 24Common Goldeneye 1Hooded Merganser 2Common Merganser 300Ruddy Duck 12Great Blue Heron 6Bald Eagle 12Northern Harrier 2American Coot 2000Ring-billed Gull 6Herring Gull 1Mourning Dove 12Downy Woodpecker 1American Crow 2Black-capped Chickadee 12Brown Creeper 1American Robin 12White-throated Sparrow 4Common Redpoll 30This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/)