Killdeer - Broken-Wing Display

This is one of the most dramatic broken-wing displays I have seen exhibited by a Killdeer.

Click on the image to the right to see a HD QuickTime Video in a 720p format.

This video (and others) are hosted on my blip.tv space where you can see it also in a Flash format.

I was riding my bike in an industrial area on the outskirts of Boise when a family of Killdeer, including a few chicks ran out in the road. There was grass nearby and I tried to herd them that towards it to prevent the chicks from getting run over by trucks and cars passing by. I had my HDV camcorder available so I captured a little hand held footage of one of the adults displaying the "broken-wing" behavior and a chick running on the road. The chicks were eventually led to the grass where they were quite well hidden and safer unless they run out into the road again.

Birdwatching.com has a good description of Killdeer behavior and the ability of the chicks to start running as soon as their feathers dry after hatching.

HDVideo - Song Sparrow

Click on the Image to the right to hear and see a Song Sparrow in a High Definition 720p window using the QuickTime player.

The video is being hosted on my space on blip.tv and you can see both a flash and quicktime version.

I used a telephoto lens attachment and a shotgun mic to capture this bird near the Boise River.

At first I thought this mighe be a White Crowned Sparrow, but I posted a low resolution version on YouTube and someone identified it correctly.

Step It Up 2007 - Concert for Climate Change

Click on the image to view a 3 1/2 minute QuickTime video documenting just a few of the activities during the "Concert for Climate Action" in Boise, Idaho.

This video is being hosted on my Blip.tv page where you can also look at it in a "Flash" format that downloads faster but with a lower playback quality.

On March 14, 2007 communities across the U.S. held Climate Action demonstrations as a part of the Step It Up 2007 National Day of Climate Action project. Several Bands, including a good friend, Steve Eaton, played. Boise Mayor David Bieter talked and everyone had a good time.

The video was shot with a Sony HDV camcorder and shotgun microphone.

I used Final Cut Pro to create an original High Definition (1920x1080) movie sequence and also added a Google Earth Fly in movie in the same size. For this blog entry I compressed the movie with the .H264 video codec and the AAC audio codec and the QuickTime window size is 720x405.

Music for the video soundtrack is live from Steve Eaton during the concert. Thanks to Eric Sandmeyer for gratiously allowing me to use his music piece called Highways for the Google Earth Fly -in.

Google Earth Fly in to Ranch Area

Click on the image to view the QuickTime movie described below.
I created a High Definition 720p animated fly in with the Movie Maker module of Google Earth and brought this into the Apple iMovie program where I also created a dissolving slide show program using the Ken Burns effect. The movie is posted on my Blip.tv page in a window size of 960 x 540 and compressed with the H.264 codec.

Images supplied by the Flying D Ranch.

Idaho Anadromous Fish migration test movie

I am starting to experiment with a complicated Google Earth Tour showing the river passages Anadromous fish have to swim to get to the mountains of Idaho to spawn. Click on the image to see the first rough draft, which is hosted on my Blip.tv Show page. This is a QuickTime file with a window size of 848 x 480. I have also created a version with a High Definition size of 1280x 720p that is not uploaded yet.

In the Google Earth Community, Environment and Conservation topic area I have posted a message and link on January 19, 1:PM to Download a Google Earth KMZ file with dozens of additional placemarks you can tour using the Google Earth Browser.
The direct link to the message and file is here.

At this stage, for this movie I have produced three rough drafts of movie segments which include: 1. flying from space to the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific Ocean; 2. from the Columbia River outlet to the Bonneville Dam; and 3. a quick flight to the mouth of the Snake River over the controversial dams to Lewiston, Idaho.

The KMZ file you can download from the Google Earth Community provides many more specific locations. Playing the tour will allow you to fly along in the canyons of the Snake and Main Salmon Rivers.

Eric Sandmeyer has gratiously allowed me to use a sound file titled "Soaring" he has composed.

This is a work in progress and comments and suggestions are welcome.