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Bird Feeder Trail Camera Set Up Guide
In this guide I want to share with you my current favourite bird feeder trail camera set up which I’m having great success with capturing beautiful video images of the birds in my garden.
This is by no means the definitive guide on how you should go about setting up a trail camera to record birds feeding in your backyard or garden.
As you will see from the video I have put on our YouTube channel (see video below) the results speak for themselves.
Gear I Use In This Set Up
Let’s start off by taking a quick look at all the components I use in my bird feeder camera set up. I’ll go into more detail as to why I use each of the following in turn.
- Toguard H85 Bluetooth Trail Camera
- SD card
- 8 x AA lithium batteries
- Magic arm clamp
- 37mm close up filter kit
- Black tack
Trail Camera
I’ve chosen the Toguard H85 trail cam as my current choice. You can of course use pretty much any trail camera you already own, but I’ll explain why I use this particular camera.
First off the H85 has Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity. This means I can use my iPhone to control all the settings of my camera remotely and see a live image from the camera lens too.
All this is possible by downloading the free app which works for both ios and Android phones.
Being able to see a live image of what the camera lens is pointing at allows you to set up the camera with ease. It also means I can sit up to 50 feet away indoors watching the birds feed in real time which is great fun.
Finally the video quality is excellent. I think you’ll agree once you take a look at the video below of some of the activity recorded with my Toguard H85.
SD Card
The H85 takes a standard size SD card. I use Sandisk class 10 cards. The maximum size for this particular trail cam is 32 GB.
Sandisk cards may cost a little more than other brands but from my experience they very rarely fail or break.
Batteries
My batteries of choice are Energizer lithium AA. The H85 takes 8 x AA. I find these to be the most cost effective over time, providing the best performance more consistently.
Magic Arm Clamp
As you’ll see from the video I have used a magic arm clamp to attach to the upright of the bird feeder. The arm allows you the flexibility to adjust the height and angle of the camera with ease.
At the base of the H85 trail cam is a 1/4 x 20 threaded insert which the magic arm screws into and locks off into position.
The clamp end of the magic arm will open wide enough to clamp onto uprights over 2 inches thick. So it makes it very versatile to suit whichever bird feeding setup you have in most cases.
37mm Close Up Filter Kit
The focal distance of all trail cameras is fixed. What this means is that close up images tend to be less sharp.
To overcome this problem I have devised a DIY method of attaching a 37mm close up lens using black tack to cover the trail camera’s internal lens. You can use a different size kit, the important part is that it fully covers the lens and doesn’t affec the sensors on the fornt of the camera.
By doing this, it allows you to place the trail camera around 12 inches from where the birds are feeding and thus record closer up images with sharper detail.
The system works really well, again as you’ll see from the video. The video was recorded at around 12 inches from the birdcage using the 2 x lens.
When attaching the lens to the trail camera black tack is ideal as it securely fixes the lens in place without leaving any sticky residue when you wish to remove the lens after.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it. A relatively low cost set up for recording images of birds feeding using a trail camera.
You may decide not to use the lens or even the magic arm. But hopefully this article has given you some additional ideas on how to set up your own system.
Once you start, I think you’ll find like me that it’s a very enjoyable pastime, one that gives you a lot of satisfaction sharing your videos to friends and family to enjoy also.
Drop a comment below if you have any additional suggestions, I’d love to hear from you.
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Hi,
I have a Campark T85 trail camera which I bought to capture photos of red-Rumped swallows who built a nest on one side of my house. The camera fails to capture any of the birds movements despite the fact that I know that they the pair keep coming in to feed their chicks. I have tried all sorts of settings without luck. Could it be that the camera isn’t capable of capturing the movements of fast moving small birds rather than the large game it is normally used for photographing? Thanks
I would suggest experimenting by placing the camera a various distances from the nest. The camera would be best placed at 45 degrees to the nest also to allow the PIR sensors more time to detect movement. Hope that gives you ideas to work with. Best regards, Rob.