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.

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.