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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Plantcam Update


What would most folks do with a dead chicken that was killed by a fox?

The past couple weeks I ventured out early each morning, with my dead Buff Orpington hen, and my Plantcam. I would tie the chicken to a tree or large branch so that nothing could drag it away. I then setup my Plantcam, and would leave it until dark. Each evening when I returned, I saw no sign of visitors, the chicken was untouched and no tracks in the snow, but I would scan approximately 1100 pictures for any sign of life.

Finally, one evening as I approached, I saw feathers everywhere. My excitement was soon diminished when I noticed the LCD screen on the camera, "memory full"

On most days I set the camera to take 1 picture every 30 seconds, with the resolution set at medium, 2048 x 1536. For some reason, I decided to set the camera to take 3 pictures every 30 seconds on the high resolution setting. 2560 x 1920. With a 2GD SD Card, 2048 x 1536 = 2397 pictures, 2560 x 1920 = 1536 pictures. I have a 1 GB SD Card, so cut the number of photos in half.
Sure enough, I filled the memory card up before the mysterious visit.

The following day, I set the camera up in the same spot, using what was left of my bait. "BINGO" I got the pictures.

The Plantcam by Wingscapes, don't let the name fool you. There are many applications for this easy to operate, weatherproof camera. I use it as a day time trail cam, and I plan to use it to document the house raising in time lapse. It also could be used as a security camera, and if you really want, a Plantcam.

Wingscapes also has more advanced BirdCams
http://www.wingscapes.com/

This time lapse video revels a Red Tail Hawk, feeding on my chicken. He flies off and returns 20 seconds in. At 34 seconds in, you will catch a quick view of the mate. I am learning how to edit video on my computer, but until then I hope you enjoy my rough experiments. I also posted a still shot of the hawk in our Life List Photos column.
There is no audio.

I can only imagine how much fun I could have with at camera that shoots at night.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your commentary on the hawk feast. You have me wanting one of these cameras. But for now I will just enjoy yours. I am excited every day looking for something new on your blog. Keep up the good work. If you need some "bait" let me know. Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

could you clarify about your bait....how you came upon it. Love the plantcam pictures

Steve said...

The bait was a dead chicken that was killed by a fox. I thought maybe the fox would return for it, so I set the plantcam up each day to watch it.