Wildlife Expert Crafted a Beautiful Miniature Living Room For Birds With a Live Stream Camera

• 01

  The little nesting box Kate MacRae built in her English garden has books on the shelf, a potted plant, and even wallpaper imprinted with the most dapper of designs.

  
  via wildlifekate

  "You're looking at months of planning and work," MacRae tells MNN. "Over the winter, I tend to come up with a lot of these ideas and do a lot of the builds."

• Advertisement
• 02

  But would the intended resident, a blue tit, approve of it all? Would she — or he — make this a real home for the spring? Maybe the wallpaper isn’t quite right, or the book selection not up to snuff.

  
  via wildlifekate

  All of these questions consumed MacRae over the winter as she prepared the tiny living room for springtime visitors to her garden in Lichfield, Staffordshire.

• 03

  Then the moment finally came. A blue tit poked a curious head inside.

  
  via wildlifekate
• 04

  The bird seemed to approve of the decor — with one notable exception. It needed more moss.

  
  via wildlifekate
• Advertisement
• 05

  Lots and lots of moss.

  
  via wildlifekate
• 06

  So the little bird ducked out, only to return with heap after heap of the stuff. She dumped it all on the living room floor, and, with a great stirring of wings, shaped a little nest — just beside the bookshelf where a tiny statue of a cat looked on her

  
  via wildlifekate
• 07

  But how do we get to see so much of this surreal and intimate scene?

  
  via wildlifekate

  Well, that's thanks to another fixture in MacRae's living room — a high-definition camera that streams constantly to our own living rooms and cubicles. Think of it as Big Brother for bird lovers.

  
  

  
  

• Advertisement
• 08

  “Of course, the wildlife doesn’t know what I’ve created,” MacRae says.

  
  via wildlifekate

   "To them it's just either a feeding platform or a feeding station or another nest box. They have no concept of what I'm creating at all. As long as there's feed available or the nest space is a suitable place for them to nest, they don't mind". But that's not the point. She sees those painstakingly crafted environments as the perfect draw for curious humans: "I really do aim to create a platform with which I can capture imaginations — and get an audience who possibly wouldn't normally log in or watch a wildlife camera," she explains. "And then I can use that as a platform to educate people and to encourage them to have an interest in British wildlife. I think if they have an interest, they're more likely to care and they're more likely to do something about it to protect wildlife."

Tags