Bamboo Camera Bird Feeder

This is the camera which took the photo of me relaxing yesterday.



It comes with the Birdfy Camera Bamboo Bird Feeder.



It is not the cheapest of camera feeders. Built of sturdy (and heavy) Bamboo wood it has two containers so you can give the birds a choice of food. The camera has a built in battery which is kept charged by the solar panel which comes with it.



My choice of fixing position was not ideal but it was the best place to let it connect to my router as it automatically uploads 20 second movies each time it detects a movement. These are stored for up to 30 days on the Birdfy server. They can be accessed using the Birdfy app which also has access to live view watching. Uploaded clips can be downloaded to the mobile phone.

A view of the feeder. The small black thing, top left, is the solar panel. I use the large solar panel to charge a small power bank.



Tomorrow I will show some video of its first birdy visitor.

Unwelcome Visitor

Just happened to spot this furry visitor to the bird feeders:



Time to put out some 'special' food in a safe place!

Peanut Cake Visitors

The Robin Peanut Cake blocks I ordered from C J Wildlife are proving to be very popular with my garden visitors, especially as many birds are feeding nestlings at the moment. A short video showing Blue Tit, Robin and House Sparrow:



The 'cake' consists of peanut flour, tallow, Sunflower hearts, kibbled peanuts, dried mealworms and other seeds and fruit.

The camera nest box hasn't been taken by any birds but does seem to have a resident wasp. I am sure there is a Song Thrush nest in the Ivy at the bottom of the garden, or very nearby. A couple of days ago I saw two Song Thrushes together on the lawn and one keeps visiting to collect worms and always flies back to the same spot in the Ivy. So far I haven't managed to video it as the Song Thrush is very wary and timid.

Corvid Visitors

I sometimes see a Jackdaw pay a fleeting visit to the garden. A few days ago I spotted a couple of them on the lawn:



After a short while they were joined by a Rook.



Recently a Rook has been making early morning visits to the bird feeders.



It usually manages to extract a suet ball or suet log which it enjoys on the ground.



This morning I spotted a Rook which seemed to be self identifying as a Blue Tit as it clung on the feeders to get its share of what was on offer. Fortunately the camera which monitors the feeders caught the action:



I sometimes think they expend as much energy trying to feed as they get from what they manage to eat.

Will They Use It?

From time to time I have seen some feeders designed to hold an apple for those birds which like them. Here it is the Blackbirds which really go for them when I put some on top of the fruit cage. The, though albeit not too expensive, cost of buying such a feeder has put me off as there is no guarantee the local birds will use one. One day as I was browsing for ideas for 3d printing on Thingiverse I happened on a design for one. It can be seen HERE. All I had to do was download the .stl files and use Ultimate Cura to produce the gcode file for my 3D printer.



It is in three parts. The main body plus two sections of perch. I didn't have any glue suitable for PLA plastics so I used hot melt glue to hold everything in place. I fixed the apple in place by inserting an oval brad nail from each side.

Only time will tell whether the birds will be attracted to it and enjoy a bit of apple. The only reservation I have about the design is the short length of the perches. They seem to be too short for a Blackbird to balance on. I will print some longer perches if need be.

Rook balancing Act

It is always fascinating to watch any of the corvids find ways to get at any food. This Rook was doing a grand job with its high wire balancing act.

Determined Rook

A small group of Rooks have become regular morning visitors to my bird feeders.









They usually end up unhooking the coconut feeders but I've not managed to video that as yet.

Rook at the Birdfeeders

A hurried bit of video taken in the gloom this morning when a Rook visited the birdfeeders.



At least it didn't try to unhook the feeder.

Rook

It has been some time since I last saw a Rook visit the bird feeders. This morning one was trying to look innocent when he saw me watching as it attempted to get near the suet ball feeder.

Intelligent Rook

I was reading The Weaver of Grass' blog entry about watching Rooks and it reminded me of this bit of video I took eight years ago.



Why struggle to get at the suet ball when a little effort makes the job a lot easier in the long run. A few days later I noticed all the feeders in a neighbour's front garden were on the floor. I guess it was putting its new skill to good use.

Feeders at the Ready

With the change in the weather there have been more birds visiting the feeders so it was time to check them over and top them up. A new(ish) feeder is this one:



It holds jars of peanut butter specially formulated for birds. Peanut butter for human consumption can have too much salt for feeding to birds. I get the pots from CJ Wildlife:



I did have it set up under the bird table over the Summer but it was ignored there and the contents went mouldy. I though I would try it on the side of the shed not far from the traditional feeders.

Learning Fast

This young Blue Tit has mastered the art of holding food under its feet:

Attacked from Above and Below

This large suet log has been hanging in the garden for weeks without any takers.

 

All of a sudden, now there are hungry youngsters to feed, it is being attacked from above and below.

As well as the inevitable Starlings there has been the occasional visit from a Rook to attack it from above:



A bit of jittery video, hand held looking through the kitchen window which was in full sunlight:



The attack from below is from a Blackbird:

 

He flies straight up, grabs a beak full and drops down again.



I have watched Blackbirds use the same tactic to grab the berries from ivy hedges when there is no place for them to land on the plant.

More Bird Feeder Visitors

The soundtrack was recorded at a different time using a small wav / mp3 recorder
50p coin for scale.



Most of the bird sounds, including the clicking, were made by Starlings.

Bird Feeder Visitors

House Sparrow, Greenfinch and Goldfinch incoming



Greenfinch and Goldfinches



Great Tit



A bit of video



The first time I have had Greenfinch and Goldfinches visit for quite a while.
While I am pleased to see the Greenfinch they make me a bit apprehensive as they have often brought finch disease (Trichomonosis) which is fatal to all the visiting finches.

I Might Have Known.....

.... the first bird I spotted using the suet ball feeder would be





a Magpie.

These were taken with the Nikon Coolpix S9050 I bought in December 2012.  It's doing a grand job as the photo numbering reached 9999 and started again from 0001 a few days ago. That means it has taken over 10,000 shots. It is still using the original battery which automatically charges every time I plug the camera in the laptop to download the photos.

Rod, Pole or Perch

I wonder whether that title conjures up memories of using Imperial measures in maths lessons for those of a similar age to myself. Relax, no maths today though. I have seen what looks like a few beak marks in the top jar of the peanut feeder. Since I received the feeder I have had some doubts as to how easy it is for birds to actually get at the jars once they are inside the cage. To my mind it really needs a perch or two to make things easier for them. To that end I have installed a length of wood - one of several uses I find for spent rocket firework sticks found after Bonfire Night or New Year celebrations.



If that works I will install another perch near the bottom two jars.

For those not familiar with our old Imperial units of measurement there is a useful web page HERE which gives some insight into their origins. I wonder how many younger people know that the length of an adult cricket wicket is one chain. (1 chain = 22 yards = 4 rods)

On the weather front - I repaired the heater just in time
 

It is hovering around 0C this morning.

Enticement

Still no takers for the peanut butter feeder. Not a single beak mark.
It always takes time for birds to try out new feeders so I though I would add an enticement.



I've hung a fat ball feeder underneath as they are used to those.
As you can see the jars of peanut butter are well back from the front of the cage.
Even the long Magpie beak couldn't reach through far enough.

Not What I Expected

I spotted only one visitor to the new feeder yesterday.
I had expected it to be a House Sparrow or Blue Tit not ......



...... a Magpie.
It did its best to get its head through the bars but left empty beaked.
As far as I could tell it was the only visitor.
There were no beak marks in any of the jars of peanut butter.
Early days yet. It had only been up for a few hours.

The bird table has had lots of activity, mainly House Sparrows, Starlings and Blue Tits.
An occasional visitor is a Coal Tit.

 

As is usual at this time of year the Coal Tit will take black Sunflower seeds and hide them in the ground or in a crevice in a tree trunk. I have watched them do both in previous Winters.

New Feeder

Today I took delivery of a new bird feeder from C J Wildlife, where I purchase most of my bird food and feeders. Fast next day service with free carriage on all orders until the end of the year.



This one is designed to hold jars of peanut butter. This is specially made for birds and comes in several varieties.



Most peanut butter for human consumption is not usable as it contains added salt.

This feeder can hold three jars and has a guard to let smaller birds have a chance of feeding.
Here it is fitted to the end of my shed





Now I wait to see who will be the first to try it out. A few years ago I tried a single jar open feeder. The Starlings soon found it and the jar was empty in less than a week.