eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Hi all,

"Well this is it, the night of nights..." as the old cartoon theme song goes... The two cans of "BirdWatcher's Choice" meal worms arrived, as did the new NovaBird camera! A quick review of each follows...

First, let's look at the meal worms... They're made by Timbuktu Outdoors, located in Madison, GA. (And yes, you can purchase these the painless way via the Web at: eBirdseed.com.) They are in fact, soft and moist (just like the can says), and when unopened, have a long shelf life. So far, it looks like the larger birds (crows and jays) prefer the worms. (I just checked the feeders - the meal worms are all gone and the crows look like they're coming out of withdrawal.) Bluebirds are supposed to go crazy after the things. (Why can't we attract any bluebirds? Hmmm... Thoughts? Buehler?)

Sorry, sorry, sorry... I know I should spend more time discussing meal worms. (Birds love 'em, and they are 17% crude protein, which is something that the typical high-metabolic-rate bird needs.) But, the new NovaBird camera has arrived, and the engineer in me is about to explode!

So what is the NovaBird you ask? Well, it's a camera that snaps pictures all by itself. It has a motion detector which triggers the shutter automatically. All that is needed is to configure the camera, and then mount it 15" away from the subject area. Not much to do after that beside wait, and then remove the standard SD memory card, plug it into the PC, and download the .JPG pictures from the H:\DCIM\100MEDIA source. (Naturally, the path to your memory card will probably vary.)

Observations concerning the camera (and pics) follow...

• The NovaBird shipped intact - good secure packaging. The contents (camera, 6V lead acid battery/rock, 6V battery charger, tripod adapter post, and manual) can be seen below.
  
  
  
  
• The specs for the rig are respectable...
  • It's about the size of an old-fashioned, personal, 35mm camera.
  • The color of the case is a camouflage green.
  • The 256MB SD card we bought (not included with the camera) holds ~600 pictures. (You'll need at least that, because any movement can trigger the NovaBird. I left it on for two hours and fifteen minutes, and it snapped 177 pictures. The camera will support up to a 1 GB SD card.)
  • I'd guess the camera itself weighs around 10oz.
  • 3 Mega pixels - common by today's standards. But when properly applied...
• Setup was fairly simple. Just charge the battery/"rock", and set the "time", "date", etc. for the camera per the instructions. It was certainly easier than configuring a VCR. (Note that this isn't a hot-swappable device. That is to say, power down everything before you start connecting and removing cords.)
• The picture below tells the tale of the actual mounting of the camera.
  
  
  
  
• Supposedly, the camera has an electric eye that turns itself off at dusk, and then back on again at dawn. That sort of power-saving feature should give the NovaBird a 2 - 3 day lifespan on a single charge. I haven't had a chance to test this yet.
• NovaBird and its battery pack are "water resistant". (Personally, I wouldn't leave them out in a downpour.)
• The camera is adjustable such that its picture-to-picture delay can range from 10 seconds to 30 minutes.

Enough details! What can we expect from the camera? Start with "Wow!" and go from there.



To give you an idea of the quality of the pictures, check out the snapshot of a boat-tailed grackle's feet below... (This also seals it for me as to whether or not birds are related to dinosaurs.)



And then there is this...



See you by those remote-camera monitored feeders!

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Can't wait 'til the wife and I get a chance to really put this unit to the test!!!

P.P.S. The hummingbirds are back!