I've had this planned for a couple of weeks now but wanted to get this pushed out for the contest. Forgive the jankyness but a more complete project will come soon.

Supplies

1x Raspberry Pi

1x Micro SD Card

1x PIR Sensor

1x External Power Bank

1x Camera Module (I used the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera with the telephoto lens)

3x Ribbon Cables

Step 1: Setup the Raspberry Pi

First we will need to set up the micro sd card to install our OS. Then we will set up the Raspberry Pi for headless use of the camera.

1. Prep Micro SD Card and install OS

For a headless setup follow the document below.
Setup WiFi/SSH without need for monitor and Keyboard (highly recommend)

2.Set up Raspberry Pi for headless camera use

This is a crucial step and will give you the ability to use VNC to connect to the pi later.
Follow steps 2 through 4.

Step 2: Copy Code

You must create a folder in your home directory called 'Cam'.

ssh into pi or vnc into pi and open terminal
type 'pwd' to ensure you are in the Pi home directory...you should see /home/pi
once confirmed type 'mkdir Cam'

Copy the below code into a file.

ssh into pi or vnc into pi and open terminal
type nano filename.py
copy and paste
control + x to save
press y

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from gpiozero import MotionSensor #import motion sensor library

from datetime import datetime #import datetime for file naming

from picamera import PiCamera #import camera library

import time #import time for sleep

pir = MotionSensor(4) #define pir gpio pin

camera = PiCamera() #define PiCamera

camera.rotation = 180 #set camera rotation if needed to adjust camera/set to 0 or comment out if not needed

camera.resolution = (4056,3040) #set max camera resolution for your camera

try:

time.sleep(30) #sleep 30 seconds before entering while loop for pir to adjust? Idk read this online lol

while True: #infenite while loop

if pir.wait_for_motion() == True: #if motion is detected enter if statement

now = datetime.now() current_time = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S") #setup datetime string to append to filename

camera.capture('/home/pi/Cam/image_' + str(current_time) + '.jpg') #take picture and name file

except Keyboard Interrupt:

pass

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Step 3: Start the Program

Run for testing

Start: python3 filename.py

Stop: control + c

Running in the background

Start in the background: nohup python3 filename.py &

Stop: pkill python

Start on boot

Instructions to start on boot (Method 4 is what I recommend)

Step 4: (Special Case Scenario) Out of Memory Error

If you are getting an out of memory error on the start of the python program you must increase the memory in the boot/config.txt file. This is due to the camera resolution being to high.

ssh into pi or vnc into pi and open up the terminal
nano /boot/config.txt
scroll down and look for gpu_mem
increase the value there(I increased mine to 200)
control + x after you have made the edit
press y
reboot

Step 5: Finished Product

Hello keep in mind this is a first draft of this project. I want to highlight some tips when adapting this into your own project. I would also like to say the core principals of this project could be adapted to fit your specific scenario.

PIR Sensor
The PIR is extremely sensitive had to point the sensor downwards towards the bird food to ensure less false positives occur and the camera is not taking pictures of nothing. I even used a permanent market to limit the sensors view.

Positioning

If you are using the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera you must set up to feed at the right length. To do this I placed a figure to set my focus then placed the bird feed where I had my figurine.