Animals
Woman Sets Up A Feeder Cam In Her Yard And The Photos Are Extraordinary
She created a clever setup to catch photographs of the variety of birds and wildlife close up without interrupting their daily interactions and goings on.
(TMU) – Wild birds can be skittish when humans are around, making it difficult to get the perfect photo before they take off. Lisa, better known as Ostdrossel, became fascinated by the diverse wildlife in her backyard after moving to Michigan in 2012.
She created a clever setup to photograph the variety of birds and wildlife close up without interrupting their daily interactions and goings on. Now her full time hobby, Lisa set up a homemade feeder-camera which captures amazing photos of a variety of birds visiting the feeder daily the enjoy its tasty snacks, much as she enjoys checking the camera and choosing the perfect shots of the visitors remotely.
Originally from Germany, Lisa made the move to Michigan for love and wanted to share her new surroundings and experiences with her family in Germany. The many different species of birds, right in her own back yard, surprised her so she started feeding them and taking pictures to share with her family. The birds were very different to what she used to see in the city where she lived before.
“When I moved to the US from my native country Germany, I noticed that the birds here are more colorful and different than in Germany. I wanted to share them with my family and started taking photos,” Lisa told a social media outlet.
Initially, she used a pocket camera, then moved on to a DSLR camera and started experimenting with other ways of capturing the birds up close. She realized quite quickly that, to get the results she wanted, she would have to build her own feeder and equip it with a camera.
“I enjoy seeing the beauty of the bird anatomy, the delicate patterns, the feathers, the colors, and of course their antics. How they pose, etc. The creative process mainly consists of choosing the best photo out of thousands that my system takes each day and then editing it a bit. The reward is being able to share it with the world and seeing how others enjoy it as well, learn something, or are becoming more fascinated by nature.’’
Before she even knew it, her bird photography became her full-time hobby and she would review the day’s photos and videos every evening. She was impressed with the videos footage. Up close, she saw their unique expressions and funny antics, usually so fleeting that we would miss them. Fortunately for Lisa, exotic birds also dropped in to rest and enjoy her snack offerings during their migration in spring, many she had not seen before, such as hummingbirds.
“The most exotic birds are mostly coming during spring migration. I had a summer tanager one time and a pine warbler. Every day is a new chance to get something special in the yard, be it a scene or an animal. I am not hunting for exotics, I try to find the beauty in every day.”
Her feeder became part of the bird’s daily life, where parents raised their chicks and the fledglings enjoy the feeder, much like the local diner in a small town.
“Birds do return, I can recognize them by their markings. There is a grackle, for example, that we named Count Drackula, which has white dots around the neck and looks especially grumpy.”
Lisa, obviously loving her hobby, explained how her system works:
“I use two setups. One is a homemade setup with an action camera in a weatherproof box, with which I mainly take closeup photos. The other one is a camera by the company Birdsy. It works with AI and records videos when the AI identifies a bird or animal in the frame. The videos are stored in my Birdsy account, from which I can download and edit them, watch them, or share them. Birdsy is still in the test phase, but will be launching very soon. There is more information on their website. I have been using this camera for about a year now and absolutely love it. The fun thing is that it captures scenes you would normally not see, like squabbles at the birdbath or birds feeding their babies.”
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