On Thursday, 6/10/2021, I witnessed three Black-capped Chickadees fledge from our backyard birdbox, exiting a home that was constructed from a hollowed-out alder limb. To capture this video, I set up the camera in 1080p and 120fps, and, thinking perhaps there were no birds left in the house, I started the video and left the scene. It put a big smile on my face when I later reviewed the video and saw that an adult had visited, fed the bird, removed poop, and then a minute later the youngster fledged. The understandable hesitation of the chick is just priceless.
In Lightworks editing software, I used a high-pass filter to remove low-decibel background noise, and stretched three short sections to slow-mo. The bulk of the video is 30 fps. Export was 720p MP4, the only export available if using the free version of Lightworks.
Comments appreciated.
Gary
Great video. It had not occurred to me to shoot 120 fps. I’ve always used the S&O with 120 fps at 30 fps playback. That doesn’t give you any audio.
I’m glad you mentioned S&O. I thought about using it; didn’t occur to me that you lose the audio. In three places, I slowed down the speed to 20%, which of course ruined the sound, so I over-layed audio from another part of the clip to cover.
Wow, Gary, very nice! Lifted my spirits as I cope with chronic
illness. We have a robin nesting under our deck. Not as exotic but we like her. Glad to see you haven’t lost your touch. Thanks for sharing.
Pat Moir
So glad you enjoyed it, Pat. I’ll stop by next time I’m in the hood.
Great shots Gary. I think I know how it feels when I get up some mornings.
Every year the birds leave us without saying goodbye. Finally, I made the effort early and intercepted them.
This is really wonderful, Gary. We have a good crop of chickadees in our yard but never actually see the first flight or even the nest.
Thanks. Our nests are homemade. Very worthwhile, entertaining and a good photo-op.
Through the viewfinder, I watched European Starlings fledge last year. I have a shot just seconds before the first of two left. There was no waiting. They just popped to the opening and launched faster than I could press the shutter. Never occurred to me to turn on video.
Great shooting and composing.
I missed my chance at the chickadees last year because I was shooting stills. Tough to capture the leap out. This year I was inside the house when this guy fledged, camera rolling.