A Great Use For Time Lapse Mode

As readers know I have tested every feature of the BirdCam in an effort both to understand their uses but also to find ways to use those features in my own backyard environment. Time Lapse had stumped me for quite a time. It works as described, taking photographs at prescribed intervals between two hours and thirty seconds. But I asked myself, if the infrared sensor gets the birds, what can I do with a time lapse that may result in many blank shots? Other owners report using this to watch plants grow and so on, but I needed a great bird application. The epiphanal moment came when I studied over 2,500 shots taken in a goofed-up time lapse movie experiment back in March. I had mis-set the interval and the SD card filled up inside one hour. But I had set the camera up over eight feet away from the feeders so I could get a wide angle view of the whole station. At this range the infrared sensor won’t trigger. What I came to realize was that I had a perfect device for getting a bird census across a day, say, for Backyard Bird Count in February. I had enough visual detail to make out species at every feeder, even if the birds were far enough away that the pictures of each weren’t very interesting. Time Lapse frees BirdCammers up to count birds at other locations but not miss their own backyards! Double the data, double the fun!