I've got a bird feeder and a wildlife camera (motion activated) and was wondering if anyone had any good ideas of how to set it up to catch the birds on my feeder.
I mainly want to do this because I am not at home most of the day and therefore don't always know if there is anything on my feeders.
I have tried before but the camera wasn't close enough because of the birds being so small that it didn't pick them up.
Thanks in advance for any ideas
Regards
Benji
It depends on what type of camera you have.
Most trailcams are on their limits at around 20mtrs. I use a tripod for my trailcam pointing at the feeders, and it works pretty well.
The tripod is an old cheap one, and has been outside for over a year and no signs of degradation. It does need a clean down from time to time, the birds use the trailcam as a perch, and of course, it does get the inevitable poo on....
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
Hi BenjiS
As has previously been stated, it's difficult to give you any sort of recommendations without a few more details on the specifications of your camera.
I myself run a YouTube channel that does daily streams of the birds on and around my feeders and at the moment I am currently using two separate cameras (though this is shortly to be expanded to more). The first one is a 4 MP fixed focus CCTV camera that is mounted close to the feeding station on a post and the second is a 4 MP PTZ CCTV camera, pole mounted near to the house, that is used to cover the rest of the garden and for close up shots of the birds. The camera's are both IP cameras that are operated via my home internet network and are both POE (Power Over Ethernet) to cut down on the number of cables needed to be fed into the garden. I'm presuming that your camera is of a fixed focal length design like my first camera and the best thing you can do is to mount your camera as close to the feeders as possible so that your camera will be capturing the birds fairly close up. I would suggest you mount it either on a pole or wooden post at eye level and preferably have something like a wall or fence in the background. You don't want anything in the background like foliage that is going to be moving constantly in the wind if you intend to use motion detection to trigger your recordings. I personally prefer to use wooden posts over poles as they are far less likely to shake in windy conditions. This is how I currently have the fixed focal length camera set up in my garden:
As you can see the camera is fixed to a post with a rainshield and cable conduit for added protection outdoors. This camera is around three feet from the feeders. The second camera is the PTZ and is a larger and heavier camera and is attached to a pole that is bolted to my garden wall for support:
Either of these mounting options should work for you. As long as you mount your camera close to the feeders on a sturdy mounting area and reduce any sort of background movement you should be ok. If you want to see my set up in action my Youtube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Ofmd62h1Dj8JFsmMmXl9w and you will be able to see the sort of things you should be able to achieve as long as you avoid the pitfalls I mentioned above. This is an example of the kind of videos and images my set up produces:
If you need any more help or advice my email address is on the YouTube channel and I'll be happy to help and advise you in any way I can