Wyze Outdoor Cam and Hummingbird Feeder

New user here and new forum member as well. Just got the Wyze Cam Outdoor (camo starter bundle) for Christmas - expressly for the purpose of bird watching - hummingbirds especially!! I live in Pennsylvania - I know almost all of the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds have migrated south - but there have been reports of rare west-coast hummingbirds that migrate out here - someone in my town actually had one staying all winter a year or two ago!! So for my questions. First, this is my setup - is the cam too close to catch a hummer?

wyze hum feeder view|690x388

Iā€™ve got detection settings at 11 for distance and 91 for image sensitivity (and I have CamPlus activated for it). So - the cam has caught myself walking in the background before - but no hummingbirds yet. Iā€™m not even sure Iā€™ll get a hit until spring - but I donā€™t want to miss any winter stopovers just in case. Do I have the settings right for this setup?

One note - Iā€™ve snuck up behind the cam and put my fingers up towards the feeder - just two or so - and ā€œperchedā€ them on the feeder. The cam caught that - but Iā€™m hoping to get some advice and make sure that when the time comes, it does catch what Iā€™m looking forā€¦thanks in advance!!

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Hey @jlipnitz, welcome to the forum!

Different kind of ā€˜hunting,ā€™ I know, but are you being vewwy vewwy quiet? :wink:

image

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LOL This is why I have the camera, so I donā€™t have to go outside and watch myself just yet :stuck_out_tongue:

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For my critter observing, I prefer a v3 over the WOC. If power is not available, a rechargeable USB power bank can keep the v3 alive for about 2 days with continuous recording. YMMV when it is set to auto-detect. My 32000 mAh RAVPower USB power bank kept my v3 alive for about a week on auto-detect.

I posted previously showing my setup using a water resistant enclosure but canā€™t find it.

Eh?

(Sorry, Iā€™m a little search compulsiveā€¦ :slight_smile: )

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@peepeep

Iā€™ll call you our resident sleuth. Thanks for finding that.

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While thatā€™s great - these were Christmas presents, so Iā€™m not going to NOT use them as intended. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Iā€™m hoping these particular settings will be good enough to catch a hummer should one land/hover and eatā€¦?

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I LOVE double negative! My fav, ā€˜Itā€™s not nothing.ā€™ :slight_smile:

Watching with interestā€¦

I see a @TomG setup in your future :crystal_ball: .

(In addition to the WOCā€¦)

Wouldnā€™t it be funny if I turned out to be right? :wink:

Oh yes you do. My mother was an English teacher. Double negatives were verboten. As were ā€œainā€™tā€ and ā€œIā€™ve got (short for I have gotā€ and the mother of all language nightmares, the dangling participle.

(I think there is a pill for that)

:roll_eyes:

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First, welcome to the community.

Awesome idea sneaking up behind it and testing with your fingers like that. Granted it may have picked up heat from your hand & wrist too, but it was a great test to see if something the size of fingers was sufficient pixelation for the image sensitivity settings too.

You set it up pretty smart: fairly close, so they should appear large to the camera by taking up more pixels.

It is hard to tell you exactly what sensitivity settings are best since it varies a lot in each situation. On the one hand these are tiny animals that will have a very small heat signature so it may require increased sensitivity for the PIR to trigger. I think your PIR zone is excellently placed though.

I truthfully think you have a decent setting and positioning. I would test that and then possibly adjust from there. You may need to increase the pir "distance"setting to see if that helps make it more sensitive to the tiny birds if you find itā€™s not triggering sometimes. On the other hand weā€™d want it to ignore the wasps and not catch people in the background as much, so weā€™ll have to see how it does first.

Another thing to consider if you find it catching you in the background too often is to possibly angle it in a way to not catch people in the backyard, ie: Angle it upward more, or flip it upside down so the sensed area is up top instead of on the bottom.

Again I think your settings look like a good starting place for your intended use case. After some time adjust them up and down a little until you find the exact one you like the best. Maybe this is already perfect. From your tests and position, it might be perfect.

Post a video here later when you get a good recording so we can see your new speedy friends. :slight_smile:

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Thank you very much!!

In all honesty, it does catch me when I go in the backyard - but not many other people go in the backyard right now, so itā€™s actually a sort of dual-purpose thing, if anyone unwanted ventures into the backyard, it will catch them too :slight_smile:

At the rate things are going - it will most likely be late April/early May before I get a hit on the cam. Unless one of the ā€œwest coastā€ hummingbirds visiting New Jersey decides to stop by my feeder on the way back west, then Iā€™ll end up having to wait for the normal migration period north in the spring.

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I expect youā€™re right that it will be a couple of months before you have visitors. Itā€™s all good if takes a while. :slight_smile:

Makes sense to let it capture people in the backyard then. Could be okay to turn up the sensitivity a little bit then, but maybe not too much to reduce trees and such triggering false alerts.

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I just did the same with a Cam 2. The feeder was already busy. Iā€™ll see if I can post a clip.

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See if this works. Two female Annas. Rare to get two. Usually they fight.

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Welcome to the forum!

The flowers on the feeder appear to be out of focus, so Iā€™m guessing your subjects will be also. My V3 is about 4" from my platform feeder (see my post). The farthest edge of the feeder is about 17". With the stock lens setup, the only things in focus were from 12" and further.

I disassembled the unit and refocused the lens. Now everything from 4" to 17"+ is in focus. Infinity is slightly blurred, but who cares.

It takes about an hour to refocus the lens. Lots of YouTube vids to show how to disassemble. The camera is still waterproofā€“been in several duck-drownders since. Or, just move the camera back until the closest side of the feeder is in focus. (That seems to be about 12-14" on the V3)

I have the Outdoor cam - so itā€™s different than the V3 - Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s the same focus length. I can try to back it up a bit more, but I donā€™t want it to be too far out of frame. At the same time, Iā€™m definitely not doing anything to void the warranty right now. LOL.

fingers

This is sort of a test shot I did earlier, how my fingers appear at hummingbird level. So itā€™s not terribly out of focus, as you can see. At least not to my eyes. But at the same time, this is the ā€œHDā€ view, I think, from the motion capture I got. Itā€™s fine for me, I think.

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Well, the picture does seem a bit blurry, so it could be a little too close to the camera.

My camera is about 12 inches away. Which I think was a good compromise distance. A hummer triggers the motion detection. I want to see whoā€™s coming and donā€™t need that much detail.

Also That feeder is the best Iā€™ve used. Doesnā€™t leak. Doesnā€™t sway much in the wind.

Yes, if you are mostly just watching who comes and goes, your focus is a good compromise. I only changed mine because I wanted well focused photos (and I like to ā€œfixā€ things that arenā€™t broken LOL).

I know what you are saying about the feeder. We have four or five ative at any given time. When you get ones that donā€™t drip, it is a blessing. Drips attract ants, wasps, etc.

Good luck with your feeder cam and most of all ENJOY!

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