Welcome to TheMagicBirdcam.de on TheMagicBirdcam.de

Felis catus (domestic cat, tomcat)

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:06:59 +0000

Not every visitor has feathers. On 16 October 2026 our tomcat climbed onto the bird house and stayed for a few minutes. He is obviously a “Müslikatze”. The camera sits right at the feeding board, so he mostly shows his back, his tail and his white paws. For a while Frigate even labelled him a “bear”. The two videos are 15-second cuts of the longest visit, which lasted about 100 seconds.

BirdCamBestOff

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this public Telegram Channel I (the birdadmin :)) send my personally best off pictures of the day. Great flight stunts and a lot of pictures of birds activities I have never seen before.

Since October 2026 an AI helps: every evening it pre-selects the best 20 of all bird pictures of the day (AI pick). I still make the final choice and train the AI to choose the best ones … Posts from the AI pick come with the species and a Wikipedia link.

BirdCamRAW

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every time the camera sees a bird, the picture goes to this public Telegram channel, unfiltered. On a sunny day with a full feeder that is well over 1000 pictures between sunrise and sunset.

Species known: if the classifier (BioCLIP 2) is at least 90 % sure, the post shows the species, the confidence and a Wikipedia link.
Species unknown: otherwise the post says “species unknown” with the best guess. Pictures where even the guess is below 50 % are skipped.
No bird: cats, martens and other visitors get a short “no bird” post with a box around the animal.

Too many to look at? Every evening the AI pick selects the best 20 of the day, the very best end up in BirdCamBestOff.

Corvus cornix (Hooded Crow)

Thu, 02 May 2024 09:38:50 +0000

The hooded crow (Corvus cornix) has a grey body with a black head, wings and tail. In Germany it lives east of the Elbe; further west it is replaced by the all-black carrion crow, and where the two meet they interbreed. It eats almost anything and is a regular visitor at feeders with scraps and seeds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_crow

Prunella modularis (Dunnock)

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 17:24:49 +0000

The dunnock (Prunella modularis) is a small, shy bird that is often mistaken for a sparrow, but it belongs to a different family. It has a grey head and breast, a brown streaked back and a thin, pointed bill. It eats insects and, in winter, small seeds, and usually creeps along the ground.

Spinus spinus (Eurasian Siskin)

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 10:29:39 +0000

The Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus) is a small yellow-green finch with black-and-yellow wings; the male also has a black cap and bib. It feeds on the seeds of alder, birch and conifers, often hanging acrobatically in the twigs, and visits feeders in winter and spring. The photos here are from March and April 2024.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_siskin

Acanthis flammea (Common Redpoll)

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 08:36:30 +0000

The common redpoll (Acanthis flammea) is a small, streaky finch with a red patch on the forehead and a black chin. It breeds far in the north and in some winters moves south in large numbers, so it is a rare and irregular visitor here. The photos are from March 2024.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_redpoll

Fringilla coelebs (Common Chaffinch)

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 08:18:40 +0000

The common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) is one of the commonest finches in Europe. The male has a blue-grey cap, a pinkish breast and two white wing bars; the female is a duller olive-brown with the same wing bars. It picks seeds from the ground and feeds insects to its chicks. The photos here are from spring 2024.

Carduelis carduelis (European Goldfinch)

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 11:23:44 +0000

The European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) is easy to recognise: a red face, a black-and-white head and a broad yellow band across the black wings. It is a sociable seed eater with a fine, pointed bill, fond of thistles and teasels, and often arrives in small flocks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_goldfinch

Emberiza citrinella (Yellowhammer)

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 15:52:22 +0000

The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) is a bunting of open farmland and hedges. The male has a bright yellow head and underparts and a streaked brown back; the female is paler. It eats seeds, and its song is often written as “a little bit of bread and no cheese”. We have only a few photos so far.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowhammer

Poecile palustris (Marsh Tit)

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 09:57:53 +0000

The marsh tit (Poecile palustris) has a glossy black cap, pale cheeks, a small black bib and a brownish-grey back. It usually takes a seed from the feeder and flies off to hide it. The willow tit (Poecile montanus) looks almost the same; they differ in the gloss of the cap, a pale wing panel and the call, so photos alone cannot settle it. We call these marsh tits because that is what the image recognition says. Our old recognition model labelled such birds “Carolina chickadee”.

Fringilla montifringilla

Sun, 10 Apr 2022 16:40:51 +0000

The brambling is similar in size and shape to a common chaffinch. Breeding-plumaged male bramblings are very distinctive, with a black head, dark upperparts, orange breast and white belly. Females and younger birds are less distinct, and more similar in appearance to some chaffinches. In all plumages, however, bramblings differs from chaffinches in a number of features:

the brambling has a white rump, whereas that of the common chaffinch is grey-green; the breast is orange, contrasting with a white belly, on the brambling, whereas on the common chaffinch, the underparts are more uniformly coloured (pink or buff); the brambling’s scapular feathers are orange, whereas the common chaffinch’s are grey or grey-brown; the flanks are dark-spotted on the brambling, plain on the common chaffinch; bramblings lack the white outer tail feathers of common chaffinches. An additional difference for all plumages except breeding-plumaged males is the bill colour – yellow in the brambling, dull pinkish in the common chaffinch (breeding-plumaged male bramblings have black bills, common chaffinches in the corresponding plumage have grey bills).

Martes foina (beech marten, stone marten)

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 10:37:03 +0000

The beech marten (Martes foina), also known as the stone marten, house marten or white breasted marten, is a species of marten native to much of Europe and Central Asia, though it has established a feral population in North America. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List on account of its wide distribution, its large population, and its presence in a number of protected areas.[1] It is superficially similar to the European pine marten, but differs from it by its smaller size and habitat preferences. While the pine marten is a forest specialist, the beech marten is a more generalist and adaptable species, occurring in a number of open and forest habitats.

Used Software

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

All software here is free and open source. In order of the pipeline on How it works.

Frigate NVR

Open-source NVR with real-time object detection. Detection runs locally, no cloud service involved. Records, keeps snapshots and sends events via MQTT.

https://frigate.video/

https://github.com/blakeblackshear/frigate

go2rtc

Streaming server built into Frigate. Delivers the live stream to the player on this site (MSE, HLS as fallback).

https://github.com/AlexxIT/go2rtc

Google Coral

Edge TPU for fast, local AI inference. Frigate runs its object detection on it.

ToDo

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The appetite comes while eating …

Done

Better bird classification (October 2026): BioCLIP 2 with a list of 72 Central European species replaced the old TensorFlow model. In a first test about 95 % of the birds got a species instead of 43 %, and no more Carolina chickadees.
AI pick of the day (October 2026): every evening the best 20 pictures of the day, chosen by an OpenCLIP model trained on BestOff.
New website (October 2026): Hugo instead of WordPress, live stream straight from Frigate, Telegram channels shown inline.

The AI learns from my choices: every tap on BestOff, neutral or bad becomes training data. Retrain the model regularly, but only keep a new model if it is not worse.
AI pick in public: turn the private group into a public channel and give it its own page here, with the hit rate (how many AI picks end up in BestOff).
Filter out bad pictures: a second model that recognises empty or blurry pictures before they reach the AI pick.
Technical metrics live on the website: TPU inference speed, number of birds per day, CPU load. The data is already collected, the public view is missing.
Bird sounds: classification by sound with BirdNET, maybe there is an API to use …

Procyon lotor (Raccoon)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:45:58 +0000

For other species called raccoon in the genus Procyon, see Procyon (genus). For other uses, see Raccoon (disambiguation).”Trash panda” redirects here.

The raccoon (/rəˈkuːn/ or US: /ræˈkuːn/ (listen), Procyon lotor), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in), and a body weight of 5 to 26 kg (11 to 57 lb). Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur, which insulates it against cold weather. Three of the raccoon’s most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail, which are themes in the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas relating to the animal. The raccoon is noted for its intelligence, as studies show that it is able to remember the solution to tasks for at least three years. It is usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates.

Coccothraustes coccothraustes (Hawfinch)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:39:58 +0000

The hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Coccothraustes. Its closest living relatives are the Chinese grosbeak (Eophona migratoria) and Japanese grosbeak (Eophona personata) of East Asia, and the evening grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina) and hooded grosbeak (Hesperiphona abeillei) of North America.

This bird breeds across Europe and temperate Asia (Palearctic). It is mainly resident in Europe, but many Asian birds migrate further south in the winter. It is a rare vagrant to the western islands of Alaska.

Dendrocopos major (Great Spotted Woodpecker)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:26:40 +0000

The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa. Across most of its range it is resident, but in the north some will migrate if the conifer cone crop fails. Some individuals have a tendency to wander, leading to the recent recolonisation of Ireland and to vagrancy to North America. Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes, and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; like other woodpeckers, they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action. This species is similar to the Syrian woodpecker.

Columba palumbus (common woodpigeon)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:13:12 +0000

The common wood pigeon or common woodpigeon (Columba palumbus), also known as simply wood pigeon or woodpigeon, is a large species in the dove and pigeon family (Columbidae), native to the western Palearctic. It belongs to the genus Columba, which includes closely related species such as the rock dove (Columba livia). It has historically been known as the ring dove, and is locally known in southeast England as the “culver“;[2] the latter name has given rise to several areas known for keeping pigeons to be named after it, such as Culver Down. It has a flexible diet, predominantly feeding on vegetable matter, including cereal crops, leading to them being regarded as an agricultural pest. Wood pigeons are extensively hunted over large parts of their range, but this does not seem to have a great impact on their population.

Chloris chloris (European Greenfinch)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:08:46 +0000

The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (Chloris chloris) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.

This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some northernmost populations migrate further south. The greenfinch has also been introduced into Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, and Argentina.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_greenfinch

Sturnus vulgaris (European Starling)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:03:47 +0000

The common starling or European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.

Poecile carolinensis (Carolina Chickadee)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 22:58:03 +0000

The Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.

The Carolina chickadee is often placed in the genus Parus with most other tits, but mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data and morphology suggest that separating Poecile more adequately expresses these birds’ relationships (Gill et al., 2005). The American Ornithologists’ Union has been treating Poecile as distinct genus since 1998.[2] Although it and the black-capped chickadee most likely diverged about 2.5 million years ago, the birds still hybridize in the areas where their ranges overlap.[3]

Sitta europaea (Eurasian Nuthatch)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 22:52:20 +0000

The Eurasian nuthatch or wood nuthatch (Sitta europaea) is a small passerine bird found throughout the Palearctic and in Europe. Like other nuthatches, it is a short-tailed bird with a long bill, blue-grey upperparts and a black eye-stripe. It is a vocal bird with a repeated loud dwip call. There are more than 20 subspecies in three main groups; birds in the west of the range have orange-buff underparts and a white throat, those in Russia have whitish underparts, and those in the east have a similar appearance to European birds, but lack the white throat.

Cyanistes caeruleus (Eurasian Blue Tit)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 22:46:33 +0000

The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)[2] is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size.

Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are widespread and a common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and the western Palearctic in deciduous or mixed woodlands with a high proportion of oak. They usually nest in tree holes, although they easily adapt to nest boxes where necessary. Their main rival for nests and in the search for food is the larger and more common great tit.

Parus major (Great Tit)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 22:34:58 +0000

The great tit (Parus major) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of North Africa where it is generally resident in any sort of woodland; most great tits do not migrate except in extremely harsh winters. Until 2005 this species was lumped with numerous other subspecies. DNA studies have shown these other subspecies to be distinct from the great tit and these have now been separated as two distinct species, the cinereous tit of southern Asia, and the Japanese tit of East Asia. The great tit remains the most widespread species in the genus Parus.

Turdus merula (Eurasian Blackbird)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 22:21:54 +0000

The common blackbird (Turdus merula) is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds),[2] or simply the blackbird where this does not lead to confusion with a similar-looking local species. It breeds in Europe, Asiatic Russia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand.[3] It has a number of subspecies across its large range; a few of the Asian subspecies are sometimes considered to be full species. Depending on latitude, the common blackbird may be resident, partially migratory, or fully migratory.

Passer domesticus (House Sparrow)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 22:12:40 +0000

The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird.

Passer montanus (Eurasian Tree Sparrow)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 21:10:14 +0000

The Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) is a passerine bird in the sparrow family with a rich chestnut crown and nape, and a black patch on each pure white cheek. The sexes are similarly plumaged, and young birds are a duller version of the adult. This sparrow breeds over most of temperate Eurasia and Southeast Asia, where it is known as the tree sparrow, and it has been introduced elsewhere including the United States, where it is known as the Eurasian tree sparrow or German sparrow to differentiate it from the native unrelated American tree sparrow. Although several subspecies are recognised, the appearance of this bird varies little across its extensive range.

Erithacus rubecula

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 20:58:42 +0000

The European robin (Erithacus rubecula), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in Great Britain, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. About 12.5–14.0 cm (4.9–5.5 in) in length, the male and female are similar in colouration, with an orange breast and face lined with grey, brown upper-parts and a whitish belly. It is found across Europe, east to Western Siberia and south to North Africa; it is sedentary in most of its range except the far north.

Garrulus glandarius (Eurasian jay)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 19:32:34 +0000

The Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) is a species of passerine bird in the family Corvidae. It occurs over a vast region from western Europe and north-west Africa to the Indian subcontinent and further to the eastern seaboard of Asia and down into south-east Asia. Across this vast range, several distinct racial forms have evolved which look very different from each other, especially when comparing forms at the extremes of its range.

How it works

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

TheMagicBirdCam.de started in 2022 as a winter project in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (dark, cold and sometimes boring): a bird feeder, a camera and free, open-source software glued together. The setup has grown since then. This is how it works today (October 2026).

Camera and object detection

An 8 MP IP camera with infrared for the night sends its video stream to Frigate NVR on a small home server. Frigate finds objects in the picture with a Google Coral Edge TPU, an NVIDIA GPU decodes the 4K video. Frigate records, keeps a snapshot of every event and also serves the live stream (go2rtc).

Imprint

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

according to § 5 DDG

Thomas Muellerchen

Contact E-Mail: birdadmin@themagicbirdcam.de

Editorial responsibility Thomas Muellerchen

Privacy Policy

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The legally binding version is the German one.

In short

This site sets no cookies, uses no tracking or analytics and loads nothing from third-party servers. Only technically necessary server logs with shortened IP addresses are stored.

Controller

Thomas Muellerchen, contact details see Imprint, e-mail: birdadmin@themagicbirdcam.de

Hosting

The site runs on a virtual server of IONOS SE, Montabaur, Germany. Live stream, statistics and “Frigate in Action” come from a computer at my home. The server forwards these requests through an encrypted connection and only passes on the shortened IP address.

Thank you very much

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Every Donation will be invested in birdseeds.

Buy me some birdseeds

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Every donation will be invested in birdseeds.

Frigate in Action

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Frigate NVR and Coral TPU in action

Live

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Live birdwatching – 24/7 – Have a look at my birdhouse 🙂

Stats

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to TheMagicBirdcam.de on TheMagicBirdcam.de

Felis catus (domestic cat, tomcat)

BirdCamBestOff

BirdCamRAW

Corvus cornix (Hooded Crow)

Prunella modularis (Dunnock)

Spinus spinus (Eurasian Siskin)

Acanthis flammea (Common Redpoll)

Fringilla coelebs (Common Chaffinch)

Carduelis carduelis (European Goldfinch)

Emberiza citrinella (Yellowhammer)

Poecile palustris (Marsh Tit)

Fringilla montifringilla

Martes foina (beech marten, stone marten)

Used Software

Frigate NVR

go2rtc

Google Coral

ToDo

Done

Next

Procyon lotor (Raccoon)

Coccothraustes coccothraustes (Hawfinch)

Dendrocopos major (Great Spotted Woodpecker)

Columba palumbus (common woodpigeon)

Chloris chloris (European Greenfinch)

Sturnus vulgaris (European Starling)

Poecile carolinensis (Carolina Chickadee)

Sitta europaea (Eurasian Nuthatch)

Cyanistes caeruleus (Eurasian Blue Tit)

Parus major (Great Tit)

Turdus merula (Eurasian Blackbird)

Passer domesticus (House Sparrow)

Passer montanus (Eurasian Tree Sparrow)

Erithacus rubecula

Garrulus glandarius (Eurasian jay)

How it works

Camera and object detection

Imprint

Privacy Policy

In short

Controller

Hosting

Thank you very much

Buy me some birdseeds

Frigate in Action

Live

Stats