SparrowhawkCam

I have been experimenting with a trail camera to monitor the sparrowhawk.  This is a Wingscapes Audubon BirdCam which can record colour photos or video in the daytime but has no flash or infrared light so it doesn't work in the dark. It is at a disadvantage in the dim shady corner of the kitchen garden where the sparrowhawk stakes out the bird feeder. It is completely automatic with no control over ISO, shutter speed or depth of field so most photos are no good because of motion blur.  But it does have an adjustable preset focus and every now and then it strikes lucky.

In this one he is a bit too close even for the closest focus preset.  The camera also struggles to accommodate the very high contrast between the brightest and darkest areas, even with lots of post-processing.

Another problem is that the lens fogs up on damp misty mornings.

I have found that the sensitivity is also a limitation.  On "high" it will take 2000 photos of almost nothing but on "medium" it takes very few and presumably misses a lot.  However, if I leave it set it can tell me what has been happening while I was away or wasn't looking.  These two kills were about two hours apart.

Previously on this blog we have had FoxCam, BadgerCam, BankvoleCam, OtterCam, RatCam, DeerCam, RoebuckCam, JayCam, WoodmouseCam, MalteserCam, BunnyCam, and WatershrewCam.  I'll have to use the trail cameras more often to keep an eye on the birds.