Bird Phone

28 01 2009
eNature - Swainson's Thrush

eNature - Swainson's Thrush

My friend Chrissy sent me a link to a site where you can get bird song ringtones for your phone. There are plenty of sites out there offering this feature but the eNature one was the only one I could find that was letting you use them for free. Other prices seemed to range from $2.49-$2.99.

I notice on the eNature front page that Barn Owl was a favorite. I find that a little hard to believe, although I would think it would certainly make you want to make you pick up your phone pretty quickly.  For me the Swainsons Thrush would be hard to beat although you might end up just wanting to listen to the song more than you want to pick  up the call! I haven’t tried one out yet but i’ll update when I do. Not sure why Audubon or someone doesn’t offer this as a service – might be a nice little fundraiser (I’d be much happier paying a non-profit for this service).


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More Owl!

28 01 2009

Northern Hawk Owl and Vole - AJ Hand

Northern Hawk Owl and Vole - AJ Hand

AJ Hand, who last weeks owl prowl participants got to meet in the flesh, sent me this stunning picture of the Northern Hawk Owl from New Hampshire. Brilliantly atmospheric and fantastic timing from the photography aspect. Here is the great story that surrounds the shot in AJ’s own words:

“We were shooting this Hawk Owl on Monday, as he sat perched high in a tree,  alertly scanning the countryside. Not long after we got set up, he started cocking his head left and right, and bobbing up and down. Suddenly he swooped down–right at us–and crashed into the snow not 6 feet away. After a brief struggle he popped up with this vole and flew to this perch where he ripped off the head and ate that, then quickly swallowed the rest, neck first . After we got shots of him chowing down,we checked out the murder scene.

It turns out, the vole had been crawling through his subnivean tunnel and came to a spot where it cut across a deep snowmobile track. To continue his journey,  he had to pop out of the tunnel, get across 16 inches of packed snow and reenter the tunnel on the other side of the track. It looked like the owl got him before he even started across, just as he was just peeking out and evaluating the situation. Never had a chance!”


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