[Tweeters] Lessons Learned from a Trail Cam

[Zora Monster]

Thanks for sharing the info about the trail cam. Seems like you’ve gotten a lot of info about your birds by using it. I have one just sitting around that I could set up near my fountain. 

Zora Dermer
Seattle
Sent from my iPhone


> On Feb 3, 2024, at 8:17 AM, jimbetz at jimbetz.com wrote:

> 

> 

> 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

> 

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