Yuneec Dreeze Drone

 I said I would make a more detailed post in the video (). I was flying a Yuneec Breeze. It is in a new category of drones called "selfie'' drones. For the same amount of money as I spent on the Breeze Drone, I could have bought the first generation Phantom drone. Selfie drones are basically easy to fly from your smart devices. It is fine to fly when it is cold. I was careful not to touch down on the snow. I let it take off and land on my hand. When I was flying by trees, the snow was melting and dripping on my controller (it's a iPad mini) and the drone! When I bought this drone I was a little nervous because there was a big sticker on the outside of the box (and on the inside of the box) warning me that I could not return this expensive item. I was nervous, but it was totally worth it! This drone is very maneuverable, and it has a drift camera that stops it from drifting, plus a infrared camera that regulates height. I recommend this drone to anybody, especiall beginners.

Merlin Outdoor's Social Media

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Photo Contest #1

  Post you comment on what you think it is.
       Good Luck- Zach

Brown Creeper

 Today, I saw a Brown Creeper. This is the third time I have seen one. The first time was at a place called the Margery Adams Audubon Sanctuary. The second time was in Los Angeles, CA, and the third time was back at the Audubon Sanctuary. This is the first time I got a good picture of one.

Building Bird Houses Part 1- Chickadee House

Well, today I built a bird house. The bird house was for a chickadee. The first thing I thought about before I built the house was, "Where do chickadees live?" They live in tree hollows, so what would better replicate that than a long narrow bird house? But before I built the house, I used a staple gun to staple some chicken wire to the inside of the house so the bird could get out.

A Day Out Birding With Ebird

       

       Today I went on a birding adventure. It started at 9:00 a.m. Well, that is when I started to plan for it. We didn't leave until 12:00pm. The first thing I did was go onto ebird and decide where to go. Then, I made a map of all the places we were going to go.




  The first stop on the map was a little place called Hazel Dell Cove. My goal was to become the top ebirder there. I needed to identify two or more species of bird. I identified three. I saw one American Kestrel, seventeen Hooded Mergansers, and four Mallards.




The next stop on the list was a place I call eagle island, but is really called Marine Point (and it's called Hickory Point on ebird). I call it eagle island because there is a little island that has a Bald Eagle Nest on it. My goal was to try to find the Long-tailed duck that was sighted three days ago. Sadly, I didn't see it. I did see ten Common Goldeneye, two Turkey Vultures, twenty one Ring-billed Gulls, one Great Blue Heron, one Herring Gull, four American Crows, ten American Robins, and one Pie Billed Grebe. 



Next, we went exploring. We drove down a little street, past houses and regular things in a neighborhood. The farther we went, the more wild it became. We found a little stream that overflowed its banks because of all the rain we've had and in it we saw a little family of Mallard ducks and a Muskrat.

As we continued down the lane we started to see deer. I saw and took this picture of a mother deer, baby deer, and father deer. I like all the pictures of the mother and the baby, but the father was behind some branches and my camera was only focusing on the branches. By the time I had it focused, he had walked out of view. I only had time to snap one bad picture.

                                                                         Mother

                                                                        Mother

                                                                                  Baby

                                                           

                                                                      Baby

                Father; Can you find him?

The last stop on my adventure was a place called the Beach House. I go there all the time, only because on ebird there are so many cool sightings, but when I go there I see nothing.

That concludes my adventure.

Albino Canada Goose

   I saw this albino Canada Goose on the 24th of December.
It was standing in a baseball field with a flock of Canada Geese.

YouTube Channel

    I just made a YouTube Channel.

It is called Merlin Outdoors. Link

Spicy squirrels

One of my biggest bird feeding problems is squirrels. If you feed birds, at one time or another you will look out your window and see a big fat squirrel sitting there, eating out of your squirrel-proof suet feeder.  I have dealt with this problem for years without much success.  Then, one time I was in a Wild Birds store looking to buy some suet and I saw a spicy pepper suet block. I bought one and a couple of the regular suet blocks. The squirrels ate the regular and left the spicy. That solved my suet problem. But, there was still one more problem. I have a feeder that holds a compacted block of seed.  It's pretty expensive and the squirrels kept eating it and would scare away all the little birds.  That would leave the squirrel alone for an hour or so to devour it.  So, I went to Wild Birds looking for a replacement for the block feeder and I saw a 'pepper coated' block feeder.  I haven't put it up yet, but when I do, I'll take a picture of it and post it.  I'll keep you advised if the squirrels leave it alone or not.

Bald Eagles

Today I went back to Marine point  Springfield, IL to look for the eagles. When I first arrived all I saw was the nest, but as I looked closer I saw two small figures and when I looked at them through binoculars, I could tell they were Bald Eagles. I trained my spotting scope on them and used my phone to take a couple of pictures.

Bald Eagle Nest

Loons on Lake Springfield, IL

12-26-15

 Today I saw the first of the many amazing birds that migrate through our state.   Lake Springfield in Springfield, IL is a great place to bird watch in the winter! The warblers and other warm weather birds have left and now it is time for the water birds (Loons, Mergansers, Scaups, and Buffle heads). Once, I even saw a White winged Scoter, trapped in the ice. They, like loons, need a long take off area and the one I saw was trapped in a small circle of ice.  This year, thanks to El Nino, we don't have any ice but we still have loons!  I saw one this morning and when I did, I set up my spotting scope and grabbed my phone. I hurried back and took a picture through the lens of the scope.

Raccoon Cam 1

In this video, the raccoon is eating out of a plastic Easter egg. I think the raccoon recognized it as an egg and that is why he/she is try to bite the top off of it.

RACCOONS

11-24-15
 I had a crazy idea to film raccoons eating. Weird, right? My reasoning was that I would learn what they can do with their hands so that I could figure out how to raccoon-proof my feeders.  I go through a LOT of birdseed, suet, peanuts and actual feeders and I've long suspected that raccoons are the culprits.  Here is some footage of what goes on in my front yard EVERY SINGLE NIGHT:

This is a video of one of the raccoons using it's paw to hold and eat a piece of food.

Here is a video of FOUR raccoons eating at my feeders. Please notice how fat they are!

New Feeder Bird

 I was looking at my feeders and I saw a couple of birds with streaks on their backs. At first I thought they were female House Finches.  But then, I saw the yellow on their wings and I realized that they were a Pine Siskins. Some of you who live in the northern climates where Pine Siskins are super common are probably thinking, "Big deal, there are so many of those at my feeders right now."
Well to all you who are thinking this right now, I have to tell you that I've never had Pine Siskins at my feeder before. I immediately got my camera and video camera and took a lot of videos and pictures. I was really excited!