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This Woman Set Up A Feeder Cam For Birds In Her Yard, And The Results Are Extraordinary (30 Pics)
Birds have always been a symbol of freedom. But because of their liberating ability to fly, they seem so unreachable and mysterious to us. Luckily there is a way to meet with nature face to face and explore all types of birds in their natural setting without scaring them away or causing any harm.
Lisa, who goes by the name Ostdrossel on her social media, has always been fascinated by nature and different bird types, so when following her love to Macomb County in Michigan from Germany, she had an urge to get a little closer to the colorful birds in her yard that are uncommon in her homeland. She began exploring the ways to make it possible, and as a result, she has thousands of cool photos capturing different gorgeous bird species, their funny expressions, majestic poses, and sometimes crazy behavior. We showed some of her shots on Bored Panda 2 years ago, but since then many more beautiful birds have visited Lisa’s yard for the treat.
While experimenting with all kinds of foods to lure the birds in, she’d also set up up a camera trap that helps her implement her idea of exploring the birds from up close. She uses a bird feeder cam, which consists of a camera box, a macro lens, and an attachable bird feeding platform. She uses a tiny camera equipped with a motion sensor so that when a bird comes to eat, the camera photographs in a non-intrusive way. Her usual evening routine is going through an impressive number of photos taken during the day that can reach up to 7000. A photoshoot takes place every day in Lisa’s yard under any weather conditions.
The birds come back to Lisa‘s yard regularly, and some of them visit so often, you can actually recognize them among the rich gallery and notice their personalities shining through. From goofy doves to sad blue jays to hilarious bluebirds, enjoy the amazing insight into the life of beautiful birds.
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"The Mourning Doves were especially adorable today."
This bird has teeth!
Did anybody else think he actually had teeth at first or was it just me?
"Don King came over and performed some seed magic."
Doves in lurve.
That's what I call a good hair day.
Starling performance art.
Starlings are really beautiful birds....just wish they were back in England and not an invasive species.
Don't let them fool you. They're pest birds in North Carolina and drive native birds away and damage agriculture on a huge scale, among other issues.
Mean birds, ran off my chickadees, finches and sparrows. Blue Jays and Starlings are beautiful bullies.
Starlings are so funny and awsome....do you know they can imitate other birds, animals , even telefonrings and the alarm system of cars?
We have Starlings in England. They are beautiful, intelligent and perform mass flight performances at Dusk, known as 'Murmurations'. I didn't realise they had spread to USA. In what way are they a nuisance in your country?
I read once that several of them were brought here many, many years ago by a theater group who was performing one of Shakespeare's plays in a park... They wanted to give the play a realistic feeling of life in England. When the theater group was done with the play, the birds were released into the wild. They adapted very well to life in America. They are clever and hardy birds who can often out-compete some of our native birds. I know they don't technically "belong" here, but I love them anyway. They're just trying to get along in the world. They didn't ask to be left here.
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Wow! Absolutely gorgeous birds! I've never seen Starlings before. Envious of those who have these as visitors!
They're extremely aggressive and push out native North American birds. Vireos and swallows are severely affected by them. Any cavity-nesting bird, really.
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Starlings are great. So cheeky. I went to the seaside last summer and a youngster was harassing the lady selling fish and chips. Obviously I shared some of my food with the little guy.
I was putting some tools back into the trunk of my freshly washed car when a flock of them flew overhead and collectively dropped their s**t on it...and my back. INCREDIBLY smelly. Lost a favorite T-shirt and had to rinse off the car. Still vivid after 21 years later.
Invasive species. Brought here by English "settlers" who missed them from home.
There is always that friend that keeps STEPPING ON YOUR TOES.... One Friend!!!
I raised and wilded out 3 baby starlings that came into my possession. The next summer, they came back to my property along with a whole flock of kith and kin and ate everyone of those gross tent-caterpillars that were inundating my property that year. It took them all day to do it, but I was so grateful! Plus, for those who hate on starlings, they mostly get a bad rap because they hang out with the brown headed cow birds, blackbirds and grackles. Starlings will not decimate a farmers new seedlings, nor do they eat your fruit off your berry bushes and trees like robins will.
Hey! There's room ALL around this feeder and you gotta CROWD me???
Mom stop kissing me the other kids might see! Have a good day baby!!!!
Beautifully coloured starlings, so many colours in their feathers. Never understand why many find them ugly
Beautiful starlings very underrated birds, so many colours in their feathers. Never understand why many find them ugly
The European starling is a terrible pest in the United States. it is best to shoot them.
When times are rough, we need to be there for each other, carry each other.
"We were all worshipping the sun today."
Doves can be the picture of pure elegance and beauty. But they are also the biggest goofballs.
"Christmas Day brought some visitors that I have not seen at the booth in a while "
Ah! We can finally see the 'red' belly on the Red-bellied Woodpecker. (This is a male....red from beak to neck)
The Bluebirds seem to have gotten a family discount for hypnosis class.
"First Hummingbird pic of the season :) Conditions today are far from perfect, it is rainy and cold, but that also makes the birds hungry and willing to experiment."
Fall is definitely her season.
"Despite the snow storm, it was such a lovely day today. After a week of not feeding them, they still came back"
It looks really cool how the adult feathers are coming in on the Grackles.
"More from the vault, and these get me into the mood for spring"
"It wasn’t just the weather that made everybody more at ease. It was also that there were hardly any Starling there today. This was one of the only pictures with a Starling I got. It is rather impressive and intimidating, but their presence today was thankfully not."
"This morning was rather cold, and I noticed several Starlings in the yard. The winter crew is slowly settling in."
Their murmerations are a work of art though. When I was a kid we had them take over our town hall and the adjacent tree and were s******g over everythingand nothing could deter them but most people have never seen their murmerations though. I would recommend anyone who is in a starling area find out where they fly at dusk and watch. It's stunning beyond comprehension.
Be nice to each other and feed the birds!
"I woke up to an empty nestbox this morning (Thursday), and can hear the babies softly calling in the trees. They must have fledged very early today. Cannot wait to see them in the yard soon :) The Bluebirds have not fledged today, so Syrup has to wait a bit longer to meet her siblings. I have a feeling it is going to happen tomorrow. Which would be good because we are expecting a heatwave."
"The BBs behaved like the yard is theirs. I don’t blame them and am delighted"
Took me a second to figure out that his beak/mouth is completely open with a cranberry in there. I thought it was part of the nose.
Wonderful photos and amazing variety of gorgeous birds. Wish there had been a name/description with each as we are unfamiliar with many of them in the UK.
I could try to label them all for you, if you wish? I'll do my best. I love songbirds!
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Thank you so much for your post! You have such a wonderful variety of birds that come to your feeder.
I couldn't agree more! Thank you so very much! Enjoyed this more than I can say!!
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This is what I came to comment! The birds are awesome, but the seasons are great too. Definitely not in FL...
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As someone from Europe, and a biologist and bird-lover, the greatest thing visiting the US east coast (Chesapeake bay) was the entirely different arrangement of bird sounds in the forest and basically everywhere. That was the first thing I noticed. :-) Except for the starlings, they're native here, and they're awesome. I once saw them making a spoiled 10-year old boy cry, and that made my day. XD
I absolutely love every single one of them! I want to do this in my yard but I'm not sure how. What type of camera? How do I set it up to take photos automatically? So many questions. Thank you for sharing these, they are amazing.
Rhonda, all the answers to your questions are in the introduction of this post. It helps to read it. The camera/feeder setup is a Bird Photo Booth 2.0
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BIRDS 😍 I'd just gotten into birding a couple falls ago when I had the opportunity to visit a conservancy in the Maasai Mara. I'm stretching my neck to memorize these wonderful birds and ignoring the elephants when lo and behold our guide pulls out a field guide for Kenyan birds and hands it to me. Heyooo, fellow birder!
This is so great!!! My feeder gets a lot of woodpeckers (2 distinct species, including a little cute one) and finches, with the occasional mourning dove, starling, and now the red wing blackbirds are here. (They finally kicked out the starlings - sorry they are invasive). How fun to see this
I only get Hummingbirds at my feeder. I need to put out a bowl full of seeds.
Ooooh, what kind of hummingbirds? I've only ever experienced Ruby-throated...never been further west than North Dakota. :(
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I had work to do, but birds, pictures of them, will distract me every time.. Now I've had a lovely time sitting, gazing at so many lovely birds, even the starlings a lovely to look at and I have seen videos of their murmurations, lovely to watch. Thank you for doing what you do and sharing it. I'm in Lithgow Australia, and I too feed birds, though not as many varieties as you, and not with a camera set up like yours..
You are so blessed to have so many feathered friends visiting you....here down south in Chennai, India i get to see crows, pigeons, mynas and few kites only sometimes rose ringed parakeets too can be spotted unfortunately sparrows seem to have become extinct here.
I am in awe of the quality of the photography, and even more, the beautiful and vivid, and subtle, colours of these birds. British birds seem quite muted by comparison. Thank you.
These are stunning. I love that they are so close up. Really allows you to see things you don't normally. I'm also impressed at the number of species.
Love this! I cant believe how many different types of birds came to visit :D
Thank you, especially for the cardinal. I’m from Michigan, and they do not come to California, thank you.
We enjoy the birds here in Phoenix, mostly doves and grackles, but your pictures are really amazing! Thanks for posting them!
So many gorgeous birds, it depends where you live to have such a variety in your yard, very impressive shots !!!
So awesome!! I could look at them all day and your comments are great with each picture! ❤️❤️
this is amazing. would love to know what kind of camera you used and what your setup looks like?
Loved these! I see all kinds you've shown except the orioles at my feeder here in Baltimore, which is just outside my kitchen window. If I stand at the sink and do not move, they put on quite a show!
I think those are the most creative and amazing bird pics that I’ve seen in a long time. How do you set up the camera? Do you have a motion sensor shutter?
Wonderful photos. What are you feeding them? You don't seem to have any squirrels around. Lucky you 😃
Thank you so much for your time and effort. What are you feeding them? What is that yummy jelly stuff and who likes it? Thank you.
Wow. This was a delight! It seems like she knows exactly what to feed the birds to get the best variety. Quality work!
I am an avid bird admirer. Your idea of a camera watching the bird feeder is brilliant. Thank you for sharing your beautiful shots. I recently nursed a beautiful flicker that hit a picture window head on..knocked out cold...heart broken that this happened, I laid him in a nest made out of a warm towel to keep him warm, little by little he woke up, four and a half hours later he flew away......that made my month! Lucia
I think you should mention what type bird it is for us that don't know. Nice Pics.
What a beautiful variety of birds. Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.
Those pictures are absolutely gorgeous. I have never seen birds that close up except caged in the pet store. I want to thank you on behalf of the birds. The photos are amazing.
These are really good, no human impact. some of these are posing, supermodel kind of persons. Photographers in true sense are hunters like gun men. there they go were only animals has plase, where no human is need at all. then they attract more humans there where human destroys, only to SEE, even they have already seen those birds at photograph. Humans are so senseless as mass.
Fabulous! Thank you! And thank you to those that said what kind of birds they were!
One question: How do you keep the squirrels away? I'm inundated with them on the feeders. So lovely to see the pics!
I’m surprised there weren’t any photos of the Northern Mockingbird, considering it’s in most of the US, they’re not afraid to claim feeders, and are pretty abundant at least in my area of the US. Here in my area we actually tend to call them Catbirds, aince they are copycats and aren’t afraid to fight and chase cats that even are near their territory. A few years back my mom actually had a male catbird that would REPEATEDLY come to our home throughout the day and sit on the car door and look and peck at himself in the side view mirrors. He started that in July and continued until September. They truly are headstrong, and their vocal abilities are amazing to listen to.
Really amazing photos. Thanks for your dedication to this project and sharing it with us❤️🙏
Absolutely wonderful, each bird that I saw I had to wonder how perfect they were, the difference between the season is magical. Thank you for glorious photos.
Thank you for sharing these photos. It's lovely to see different species from another part of the world. I live in Queensland Australia and we've been suffering heatwaves (39 forecast today, 7ml of rain last two months), so our birds are hungry and thirsty. We have magpies, lorrikeets, minor birds king parrots, pigeons to name some, and a pair of wallabies who love to munch on our succulent garden.
That was wonderful - you are truly blessed to have such a wide and colourful array of bird species come to close!
Beautiful photos! Would have liked to have seen your camera set-up and what camera and settings you used.
Hi ya Dawn, enjoyed all the pictures, always great to see the different birds, and in close up action...you feed them well. I am an wood carver in different sorts of woods, I mainly do birds and scenery pictures as 3 dem's….they stand out. Wondered what lens an how close you use and was to the subjects?? Could I get permission from you sense you have a keen sense of getting close up's with detailed feathering that I can copy a picture for my personal carvings???Salina,, KS.
Truly glorious photos. I feel inspired to get some gourmet bird treats and inviting the local birds around. Looks like there's a mixture of grubs, nuts, and sundry seeds. Am wondering what kind of jelly is in the bowl. Thank you for these delightful close-ups! Just amazing!
So jealous over these beautiful bird pics! I need a something like that to catch all the local birds! ♥️
A delight to watch these beautiful birds just being them selves. Thank you very much.
These photos are amazing! They would make beautiful sketches, paintings or even memes!
This made me so happy to see! If ever I'm in a position to have a bird feeder like this (and have more birds around than just noisy-mynahs) I would do it. Thank you for posting.
Amazing! And the birds, in some way, seem to know they are on camera!! It's just the way they look right at it...and some seem to pose!! Wow! <3
Very interesting. I notice that, as the food was varied, it brought in different kinds of birds.
Beautiful photos of so many different types of birds! Thank you so much for letting us enjoy them too!
What kind of device do you use to capture the amazing photos of the birds? These are awesome, comical and heart warming photos.
I wonder how she got so close to the birds without scaring them!
In the intro it says: Bird Photo Booth 2.0 which consists of a camera box, a macro lens and an attachable feeder.
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Wonderful photos and amazing variety of gorgeous birds. Wish there had been a name/description with each as we are unfamiliar with many of them in the UK.
I could try to label them all for you, if you wish? I'll do my best. I love songbirds!
Load More Replies... Thank you so much for your post! You have such a wonderful variety of birds that come to your feeder.
I couldn't agree more! Thank you so very much! Enjoyed this more than I can say!!
Load More Replies... This is what I came to comment! The birds are awesome, but the seasons are great too. Definitely not in FL...
Load More Replies... As someone from Europe, and a biologist and bird-lover, the greatest thing visiting the US east coast (Chesapeake bay) was the entirely different arrangement of bird sounds in the forest and basically everywhere. That was the first thing I noticed. :-) Except for the starlings, they're native here, and they're awesome. I once saw them making a spoiled 10-year old boy cry, and that made my day. XD
I absolutely love every single one of them! I want to do this in my yard but I'm not sure how. What type of camera? How do I set it up to take photos automatically? So many questions. Thank you for sharing these, they are amazing.
Rhonda, all the answers to your questions are in the introduction of this post. It helps to read it. The camera/feeder setup is a Bird Photo Booth 2.0
Load More Replies... BIRDS 😍 I'd just gotten into birding a couple falls ago when I had the opportunity to visit a conservancy in the Maasai Mara. I'm stretching my neck to memorize these wonderful birds and ignoring the elephants when lo and behold our guide pulls out a field guide for Kenyan birds and hands it to me. Heyooo, fellow birder!
This is so great!!! My feeder gets a lot of woodpeckers (2 distinct species, including a little cute one) and finches, with the occasional mourning dove, starling, and now the red wing blackbirds are here. (They finally kicked out the starlings - sorry they are invasive). How fun to see this
I only get Hummingbirds at my feeder. I need to put out a bowl full of seeds.
Ooooh, what kind of hummingbirds? I've only ever experienced Ruby-throated...never been further west than North Dakota. :(
Load More Replies... I had work to do, but birds, pictures of them, will distract me every time.. Now I've had a lovely time sitting, gazing at so many lovely birds, even the starlings a lovely to look at and I have seen videos of their murmurations, lovely to watch. Thank you for doing what you do and sharing it. I'm in Lithgow Australia, and I too feed birds, though not as many varieties as you, and not with a camera set up like yours..
You are so blessed to have so many feathered friends visiting you....here down south in Chennai, India i get to see crows, pigeons, mynas and few kites only sometimes rose ringed parakeets too can be spotted unfortunately sparrows seem to have become extinct here.
I am in awe of the quality of the photography, and even more, the beautiful and vivid, and subtle, colours of these birds. British birds seem quite muted by comparison. Thank you.
These are stunning. I love that they are so close up. Really allows you to see things you don't normally. I'm also impressed at the number of species.
Love this! I cant believe how many different types of birds came to visit :D
Thank you, especially for the cardinal. I’m from Michigan, and they do not come to California, thank you.
We enjoy the birds here in Phoenix, mostly doves and grackles, but your pictures are really amazing! Thanks for posting them!
So many gorgeous birds, it depends where you live to have such a variety in your yard, very impressive shots !!!
So awesome!! I could look at them all day and your comments are great with each picture! ❤️❤️
this is amazing. would love to know what kind of camera you used and what your setup looks like?
Loved these! I see all kinds you've shown except the orioles at my feeder here in Baltimore, which is just outside my kitchen window. If I stand at the sink and do not move, they put on quite a show!
I think those are the most creative and amazing bird pics that I’ve seen in a long time. How do you set up the camera? Do you have a motion sensor shutter?
Wonderful photos. What are you feeding them? You don't seem to have any squirrels around. Lucky you 😃
Thank you so much for your time and effort. What are you feeding them? What is that yummy jelly stuff and who likes it? Thank you.
Wow. This was a delight! It seems like she knows exactly what to feed the birds to get the best variety. Quality work!
I am an avid bird admirer. Your idea of a camera watching the bird feeder is brilliant. Thank you for sharing your beautiful shots. I recently nursed a beautiful flicker that hit a picture window head on..knocked out cold...heart broken that this happened, I laid him in a nest made out of a warm towel to keep him warm, little by little he woke up, four and a half hours later he flew away......that made my month! Lucia
I think you should mention what type bird it is for us that don't know. Nice Pics.
What a beautiful variety of birds. Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.
Those pictures are absolutely gorgeous. I have never seen birds that close up except caged in the pet store. I want to thank you on behalf of the birds. The photos are amazing.
These are really good, no human impact. some of these are posing, supermodel kind of persons. Photographers in true sense are hunters like gun men. there they go were only animals has plase, where no human is need at all. then they attract more humans there where human destroys, only to SEE, even they have already seen those birds at photograph. Humans are so senseless as mass.
Fabulous! Thank you! And thank you to those that said what kind of birds they were!
One question: How do you keep the squirrels away? I'm inundated with them on the feeders. So lovely to see the pics!
I’m surprised there weren’t any photos of the Northern Mockingbird, considering it’s in most of the US, they’re not afraid to claim feeders, and are pretty abundant at least in my area of the US. Here in my area we actually tend to call them Catbirds, aince they are copycats and aren’t afraid to fight and chase cats that even are near their territory. A few years back my mom actually had a male catbird that would REPEATEDLY come to our home throughout the day and sit on the car door and look and peck at himself in the side view mirrors. He started that in July and continued until September. They truly are headstrong, and their vocal abilities are amazing to listen to.
Really amazing photos. Thanks for your dedication to this project and sharing it with us❤️🙏
Absolutely wonderful, each bird that I saw I had to wonder how perfect they were, the difference between the season is magical. Thank you for glorious photos.
Thank you for sharing these photos. It's lovely to see different species from another part of the world. I live in Queensland Australia and we've been suffering heatwaves (39 forecast today, 7ml of rain last two months), so our birds are hungry and thirsty. We have magpies, lorrikeets, minor birds king parrots, pigeons to name some, and a pair of wallabies who love to munch on our succulent garden.
That was wonderful - you are truly blessed to have such a wide and colourful array of bird species come to close!
Beautiful photos! Would have liked to have seen your camera set-up and what camera and settings you used.
Hi ya Dawn, enjoyed all the pictures, always great to see the different birds, and in close up action...you feed them well. I am an wood carver in different sorts of woods, I mainly do birds and scenery pictures as 3 dem's….they stand out. Wondered what lens an how close you use and was to the subjects?? Could I get permission from you sense you have a keen sense of getting close up's with detailed feathering that I can copy a picture for my personal carvings???Salina,, KS.
Truly glorious photos. I feel inspired to get some gourmet bird treats and inviting the local birds around. Looks like there's a mixture of grubs, nuts, and sundry seeds. Am wondering what kind of jelly is in the bowl. Thank you for these delightful close-ups! Just amazing!
So jealous over these beautiful bird pics! I need a something like that to catch all the local birds! ♥️
A delight to watch these beautiful birds just being them selves. Thank you very much.
These photos are amazing! They would make beautiful sketches, paintings or even memes!
This made me so happy to see! If ever I'm in a position to have a bird feeder like this (and have more birds around than just noisy-mynahs) I would do it. Thank you for posting.
Amazing! And the birds, in some way, seem to know they are on camera!! It's just the way they look right at it...and some seem to pose!! Wow! <3
Very interesting. I notice that, as the food was varied, it brought in different kinds of birds.
Beautiful photos of so many different types of birds! Thank you so much for letting us enjoy them too!
What kind of device do you use to capture the amazing photos of the birds? These are awesome, comical and heart warming photos.
I wonder how she got so close to the birds without scaring them!
In the intro it says: Bird Photo Booth 2.0 which consists of a camera box, a macro lens and an attachable feeder.
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