Lisa is a German-born woman who has settled in the United States. She is based in Michigan and what she loves most about her home is the beautiful nature on display outside her window every day. Her favorite pastime is looking out her window at beautiful birds that stop at her garden every day. Her second favorite pastime is photography. You would think that these two pastimes would go incredibly well together but for a long time, they didn’t. Then Lisa found a solution.
Lisa is a passionate photographer but if she took pictures of the birds from inside her home they never quite captured the beauty, they were too far away. If she tried to capture the birds outside, the moment she moved her camera the birds would fly away. As she lives in Michigan, Lisa was not tempted to camp out with her camera for hours on end to find the perfect photo, the weather really isn’t suitable. She came up with a better idea instead.
Lisa set up a small camera on her bird feeder. She has tried a number of different setups and all have had incredible results. The first method she used was to set up the camera with a timelapse function. This allowed her to capture many photographs and many images of birds but there were a lot of photos of nothing at all and she likely missed some of the best moments during the lapse part.
She also uses a motion detector. When a bird comes to sit on the bird feeder the camera senses the motion and takes a picture. This allows her to capture some amazing shots of the birds about to feed, about to leave, or staring right at the camera.
She has also started using an incredibly innovative camera from a company called birdsy. Birdsy produced a camera that recognizes the shape of birds and starts recording videos and taking pictures the moment a bird appears in front of the camera. This is ideal as if a bird is not sitting on the same surface as the camera there will be no motion detected. Birdsy uses artificial intelligence to ensure it knows exactly what a bird looks like.
This was fantastic for Lisa as it allowed her to combine her two passions. It was even better for us because we got to see some incredible pictures of birds. They are so detailed and so close up that it will feel like you have never seen a bird at such a level of detail before.
Lisa has an Instagram account with the name Ostdrossel. Her photos have gone viral many times and she has over 40,000 followers at present. That is an impressive number for a bird watcher.
What is immediately impressive is the variety of birds that land in this woman’s garden. They are far more beautiful than the six crows I always get in my home. Perhaps if I was treated to such delights I too would be a bird photographer. For now though, if you want to see the birds in my garden, just google “crow”.
The photos are stunning because they offer a real connection with each animal (there are some squirrels who stop by). Because of the close-up lens, it appears as if they are actually sharing a meal with you or telling you a story. It really is a unique collection of pictures that must make Lisa and her followers very happy.
If you want an occasional breath of happiness on your Instagram feed we highly recommend that you start following Ostdrossel, or better yet take a look outside your garden and see what birds are there. Hopefully not all crows!
