Success With Mounting Arm

It's been a while since I discussed the BirdCam product or any of its related appliances, so let's dive in. One I am getting a lot of work from is the Mounting Arm sold by Wingscapes and some affiliated vendors. I happen to own two (one for each of my BirdCams.) What I have found is that the included bungee cords, while excellent, require good solid trees to be in the right places. That's not happening here. And tripods are not typically designed for outdoor abuse. The arms, affixed, say, to a pole or shepherd's hook can get into all kinds of places and allow nearly limitless angles and heights. In this example I am pointing the BirdCam 1.0 at a hummingbird feeder as part of a full-season observation experiment. The Mounting Arm is the only satisfactory way to get the shots I want. There are two minor downsides to the equipment to keep in mind. One is that the wingnut caps don't stay on really well. Plan to keep a keyhole wrench handy to make sure the nuts stay tight. Second, the arm often catches the wind and moves the camera out of position. I have not solved this second really well except to be mindful of prevailing wind directions. Happily in the above case the prevailing westerlies are blocked by another house. But once in a while I find the camera has shifted. But overall a BirdCammer would be well served by acquiring this or a similar appliance.