Bird's-eye view: Decatur man rigs bird feeders for video

DECATUR, Ill. -- How about this for a reality TV show: Violent, colorful and unpredictable characters fighting for their share of the spoils, each likely to fly off the handle at the drop of a sunflower seed.

The lavish production also features some real cute chicks and is both plotless and scriptless and yet endlessly fascinating, with no reruns or commercial breaks. The all-day show is made and produced so locally, it could be happening right now in your own back yard. And all you need to get it beamed into the living room is a bird feeder video camera setup from Decatur inventor John Wyant.

He has modified sophisticated and tiny wireless cameras and microphones that fit inside a variety of bird feeders and birdhouses, also designed by him, and hewn from three-quarter-inch cedar. There's one shaped like a church, complete with three mini bells in its steeple, and one feeder that looks like a grandfather clock, in which the battery-powered timepiece actually keeps time. The tiny self-focusing camera, not much bigger than a box of matches, is hidden behind a hole in the pendulum, ready to portray fowl play in full color, plus crisp sound.

The beauty of the system is that the pictures are beamed via a neat little black box right to the television of your choice, enabling wide-eyed viewers to settle back and watch 3-foot-high cardinals duke it out with 3-foot blue jays if the screen is big enough. Or you can tape them for later viewing.

"I first got the idea when I was at the kitchen table one day, looking at my backyard bird feeder," Wyant said. "I was sitting there squinting at that feeder and thought, 'Gee, I could probably put a camera inside that and watch it on television."'

Wyant designed this sophisticated tiny wireless camera that fits inside a variety of bird feeders and connects to any television set.

He's a master technician who used to build his own radio-controlled aircraft, so he had the skills to make the tiny cameras. In the two years it took to develop the project, he solved some seemingly intractable difficulties, such as how to stop the lens from fogging over when the temperature changes.

"I had no doubts he could pull it all off," says his wife, Joan, who now acts as business manager of Hold It View It, the name of the camera enterprise. "His strength is his perseverance for excellence, and he has used all his mechanical ability and insight to come up with a really good product."

Prices for a complete setup range from about $200 to more than $400, depending on the level of complexity required and how fancy the housing. And the neighborhood surveillance capability is so good that some nervous homeowners are using birdhouses to keep watch on a lot more than just our feathered friends. But beware, there are other backyard intruders out there.

"There was this deer one time that ate the entire feeder, camera and all," says Wyant, shaking his head with a bemused smile. "That was one mean deer."