[Tweeters] Lessons Learned from a Trail Cam

[jimbetz at jimbetz.com]

Hi,

   A little over a year ago I asked on this forum about using a trail  
cam for my backyard.
So I bought one, set it up covering my fountain ... and promptly  
forgot about it.  Last
week - a year later - I retrieved the card in order to process the  
images.  To remind,
we live in Burlington and do not have a lot of native conifers near our house.

   The first lesson is "Don't Let It Go That Long Again" ... there  
were almost 11,000
images on it!  (Yes, that is -eleven- thousand roughly a thousand a month.)

   So I started looking at them using the 'dumb' image viewer in  
Windoze - and quickly
learned that about 2/3rds of the images can be instantly eliminated  
due to the trail
cam either not capturing the bird (flown out of frame before shutter  
tripped) or the
shot was 'unsuable' due to lighting (esp. back lit) or other quick  
reasons.  So I
started going thru them and getting rid of the easy ones ... I'm about  
half way so
far.  I intend to complete this first pass before I move on to  
selecting a few and
seeing how they stand up to "post processing".

   The lessons learned:

   1) The smallest birds (passerines and hummers) are usually images  
that are too
      small to be of much use as images ... but relatively easy to ID  
the bird(s).

   2) It is common for the smaller birds to "share" the fountain with  
each other, no
      matter what species - but as soon as a much larger bird such as  
a flicker or
      Stellar's shows up they leave.  Often just moving to the nearby  
bush to wait.
        Individual birds can be 'aggressive/territorial' and attempt  
to chase off
      others - sometimes chasing a competitor results in a 3rd or 4th  
bird using
      that time to use the fountain ... *G*.  This  
aggressive/territorial behavior
      does not seem to be related to species - it is more of a "this  
is MY fountain".

   3) Exceptions to #2 is that the smaller birds will happily share  
the fountain
      with both species of doves (Mourning and Asian Ringed-Neck).   
And they will
      always share with Towhees and usually with robins or waxwings.  Usually.
      In general.  (you get my drift).

   4) Northern Flickers visit the fountain much more often than I knew.

   5) There is a Cooper's Hawk (more than one?) that visited every 2 or 3 days
      last summer for an extended time (weeks dragging out into months).
        I even have some shots of it consuming smaller birds while sitting on
      the fountain - but none of it actually making the kill so I don't know
      if it caught the bird on the fountain or brought it there.

   6) There is much more of a "seasonal aspect" than I expected -  
where a particular
      species is present for weeks/months at a time ... but not at other times
      of the year.  I expected some ... just not as much as is obvious.

   7) Birds seen at our fountain are:  finches (all varieties),  
Chickadees, Juncos,
      sparrows, Robins, Towhees, waxwings, flickers, Stellar's, grosbeaks,
      waxwings, nuthatches, and Cooper's.

   8) Birds -not- seen were:  Kestrel, gulls, jays other than Stellar's, large
      raptors (eagles, buteos, vultures, owls, etc.), pipits, kingbirds,
      larks.  Etc.  Since I am only about half way thru the first pass I'm
      still hopeful some of these will be added to the "seen" list.  Also
      no crows/ravens or woodpeckers other than flickers.

   9) The camera images are good - but no where near as good as I get from my
      birding camera (Lumix until late May and then R7).  Still useful.

  10) I got some images that are welcome surprises - such as a very close up
      (full frame or more) when the birds flew directly at/past the  
trail cam or
      perched in the bush right in front of it.  The fountain is about 4 feet
      from the trail cam - that bush less than 2.

  11) Most of the species use the fountain for bathing and not just  
for getting a
      drink.  Often these images are "fun" because the bird's feathers  
are often
      in large disarray.

  12) The one thing I hope to change is the shutter speed - at 1/30th it is too
      slow to capture many of the images and the bird is completely blurred.
      But sometimes, even if it is not a hummer, the bird in flight will be
      either frozen or everything-but-the-wings frozen.

  13) I also got images of non-avian visitors ... mostly deer.  And some where
      the camera tripped after dark and the image is from infrared emitted by
      the trail cam.

   I consider this to be a very useful tool - and I'll continue the  
"experiment".
I might reposition the camera to also capture the hummers at their nectar
feeder.
                                                     - Jim in Burlington