Foothills Birds - Frequently Asked Questions

We are located in the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains, east of Kananskis Country and southwest of Calgary, Alberta, Canada close to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park.

Our feeders have numbers for reference. This makes it easy to describe where certain birds are to other people.

We post the eBird lists in the comments for each daily video. In 2020 we had 107 species! You can check our eBird stats here.

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Medium Sunflower Chips (shelled sunflower seeds)
• Cracked Corn
• Shelled Skinned Peanuts
• Peanut Butter
• Meal Worms
• Homemade Suet

Ingredients:

• 1 lb (454 g) of lard
• 1 lb (454 g) of smooth or crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup (250 ml) of shelled sunflower pieces
• 1 cup (250 ml) of meal worms
• 1 cup (250 ml) of raw, unsalted, pealed peanuts

NOTE: We use so much suet that we double the recipe.

Instructions:

• Prepare a cookie sheet with wax paper on top before starting.
• Put on the rubber or latex gloves and get a big mixing bowl.
• Mix the ingredients by squishing it all together with the rubber gloves on.
• Once mixed, form ball shapes and set them on the cookie sheet with wax paper on it.
• Pull off the gloves and put the balls in the freezer to set.
• Once they are frozen, put the balls in a plastic bag (or container) and keep them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

NOTE: They do not have to be round balls.  You can also put the suet in forms for other shapes.

Suet Recipe (PDF)

Unfortunately we are in a remote area so we currently don't have the best high speed Internet options. Our Internet has data limits so this limits our ability to run all 3 BirdCams 24/7.

Currently during daylight hours and we are in the Mountain Time Zone.

Our main BirdCam uses the following to stream to YouTube and our website:

• AXIS P1455-LE Network Camera
• AXIS T8351 Mk II Microphone 3.5 mm
• CamStreamer App
• CamOverlay App

For more details on our setup check out the CamStreamer Case Study:

Foothills Birds uses CamStreamer App to stream feeding places with many species of birds

Our other 2 BirdCams stream to our website using:

• Google Nest Cam Outdoor