Slo-Mo Mourning Dove

 

I shot this slo-mo video of a Mourning Dove in the snow on my patio. I like how it gives the bird a totally different feel than we are used to seeing.

The funny thing is, this may be more how Mourning Doves experience themselves.  Pigeons and presumably doves have a much faster flicker-fusion rate than we do--the number of discreet moments that they can perceive before they start to blur together.  This probably means that they experience more moments/period of time than we do--or in other words, they probably experience the flow of time differently than we do.  While they may seem all sped up to us normally, this video may show more of how the world is for them.

Watching a Mourning Dove at closer to their own speed, doesn't it look more like a grazing cow.  Or perhaps a distantly related herbivorous dinosaur?

Anyway, the world is a cool place.  Even at dove speed on your patio!

2015 Backyard Big Year Kickoff

12 hours of birding in the cold got me more than just frozen toes--I was able to find 36 species in the yard, including 3 new for my yard list.  See a more detailed report here.  I'll be posting daily updates on my Backyard Big Year blog and Backyard Big Year Facebook page.

Most of the more unusual yard birds were too far away to get photos, but I did get images of a lot of the more common bird residents.

Carolina Wren on my patio--Day 1 of the 2015 Backyard Big Year