Bird Photography Behind The Scenes: Fairywrens Up Close - Jan Wegener

Tiny bright blue birds, that feed from your hand!? That can't be real!?
Well it is!
Making slow-motion Fairywren videos has been a fun project of mine and my most popular content thus far with millions of views.
For today's video, I take you with me to the spot where I took the videos, show you how I do it and also meet my friend Paul, who will give all of us an insight into how he managed to train the fairywrens! We will also talk about what you can do to tame birds near you.
This is a bit of a different take on Bird Photography/ Videography, but a fun one :)
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Instagram
👉 / jan_wegener_
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Paul's Instagram
👉 / servalpaul
Music:
Track: Alan Walker - Fade [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds.
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[@islaadele1212]

How gorgeous! Wish I could see one in person. We have some lovely birds in the UK, but nothing so striking as that.

[@DonalKavanagh1963]

I have been breeding Superb Blue Wrens for near 30 years. I have trained my guys to leave the aviary via a tiny door i made for them to supplement their dietary requirements (visiting my many compost bins) and a quick return from predators. Just love this video. Thanks for your commitment to caring for these gorgeous creatures.

[@jan_wegener]

That is awesome!

[@grungejournals7800]

I love these birds so much . If I leave my front door open they will come as far as the door mat to visit. They sit near me and whistle if I sit outside. Now I am keen to try feed them worms from my compost bin. I love them so much. Thankyou for this beautiful and informative video

[@meetabose6340]

❤CLASSIC❤❤❤❤ TRUST IS MAIN❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@aviandiscoverytours8468]

Jan has a facinating accent. It sounds like someone who has come to Australia as a teen or young person and now has an Aussie accent mixed in. interesting...

[@jan_wegener]

Avian Discovery Tours which is exactly what happened hehe

[@michelekutner4229]

Wish we had these beautiful Birds in the US...You're so lucky !! You always make me smile !!

[@jan_wegener]

You got some good ones, too :) Cheers

[@balazsevike72]

Wonderful I am a real fan of fairy wrens

[@michelleschaller3992]

Thank you so much! I found myself smiling as much as learning from this video!! Sharing with my friends.

[@jan_wegener]

glad you enjoyed it Michelle :)

[@shaunnightingale4976]

I had a Robin fly to my hand sit and take food it all took about 6 weeks for the bird to totally trust me wonderful feeling excellent video Jan best wishers Shaun.

[@jan_wegener]

shaun nightingale that’s awesome Shaun

[@kellydcruze9389]

Marvellous Jan and Paul, i have a family of wrens that sleep in our bamboo, and they are a treasure for me. and with mealworms, i'll become a treasure for them!

[@jan_wegener]

awesome!

[@almutstarke1344]

So great !

[@stevecolwill9761]

Amazing! It’s all about trust...

[@jan_wegener]

Steve Colwill absolutely

[@SusanMJB45]

Love it. Thank you. Beautiful birds.......

[@lQuadXl]

*At my home a blue Wren likes to do a song and dance on the concrete letterbox, also had one brown Wren hang off bathroom window flyscreen looking in at me one day, while hearing me inside house whistle to them (they recognize me by my whistle).*

[@colinmcgaughran805]

Thanks Jan you are an inspiration.

[@jan_wegener]

thanks :)

[@phooesnax]

Wow. Very cool!

[@jan_wegener]

phooesnax thanks mate

[@touchedbynature5445]

Brilliant video. Beautiful photos many thanks for sharing.

[@jan_wegener]

thanks mate :)

[@Extrememdp]

So cool!

[@erikapearce1801]

So sweet!

[@jan_wegener]

Thank you! 😊

[@clivewelch1025]

WOW Jan that was awesome what a beautiful thing to be able to do.

[@jan_wegener]

Clive Welch it is, thanks Clive

[@lcwarden]

I always enjoy your videos, Jan. Thank you

[@jan_wegener]

Linda Warden glad you do Linda

[@stevebanks484]

Fantastic 👍

[@jan_wegener]

Steve Banks thanks Steve

[@Old_Smuggler]

Great insights! Thank you for this video!

[@jan_wegener]

Desi Baba glad you enjoyed it

[@bethpeg]

Thanks for sharing this video; very enjoyable to watch ; wrens are on my bucket list

[@jan_wegener]

Beth Mack 😊😊

[@DanaSudborough]

Great work as always. Such beautiful birds!

[@jan_wegener]

thanks :)

[@karengilbert19]

Love. I Mite give this a try, have a large family of wrans in the backyard

[@jan_wegener]

good luck!

[@deniseparker4436]

Love this video!

[@jan_wegener]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Sofi707_]

Thanks so much for this lovely video 🙏🐦💞

[@jan_wegener]

ine Brause glad you enjoyed watching it

[@nobodysanything2330]

🐦

[@tonyanddianewiggins]

Amazing video Jan.

[@jan_wegener]

Tony Wiggins thanks!

[@Duade]

Fantastic mate, thanks for sharing.

[@jan_wegener]

Duade Paton glad you liked it mate

[@kryts27]

An unnamed (sorry protecting wildlife) national park in Northern NSW, wild birds came out of the forest where i was camping and cooking breakfast on a fixed bench table. Soon wild birds came out of the forest, a family group of buff-coloured wrens which were hopping around near my feet, and a larger bottle green honeyeater which hopped onto the table and licked the jam off my butterknife. At any time i could have reached out and touched the wild native birds which seemed almost tame in the middle of the national park. A magical experience. Please protect wrens habitats (and habitats of other native birds). Wrens prefer fairly dense native undergrowth and bushes as habitat and nesting locations, in your garden or property, and they don't like cats. So if you have a pet cat, please put a bell around it's neck to alert the birds of it's presence, and feed your cat during the morning so that it will sleep indoors during the day and allow the native birds some peace.

[@sic04250f]

Amazing footage mate, they are beautiful little birds

[@jan_wegener]

sico thanks 😊

[@3VAudioVideo]

searching for camera videos, stumbled upon this - one of the coolest YT videos in a LLLLLLLLONG time! Thanks for sharing!

[@jan_wegener]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stilapsievideos6892]

Hi jan, brilliant video and excellent tips. I've been in the process of doing what you said for about a week now but the weather here in the UK is absolutely abysmal to say the least but I'll keep trying. Thanks.

[@jan_wegener]

Stilapsie Videos Great, let me know how you go

[@dalwinwilliams1449]

Amai=zing brother i enjoy them too South West Australia

[@marianareboucas6714]

This is a dream!

[@jan_wegener]

:)

[@soumenroychowdhuryphotogra864]

Amazing..

[@jan_wegener]

SRC Wild and Adventure 😊😊

[@zeynepaydn6722]

❤️💛💜

[@gregwilsonnaturephotography]

Hey Jan, Very cool... Wow are the Blue headed one also a Wren? So colorful. Great action of them flying to your hand for the meal worms. Greg

[@jan_wegener]

Wilson Nature Photography hey Greg, Yes the blue ones are the males

[@VideoNatur]

Absolutly great video! But very "tame" birds, too. Must have been a lot of work to signalize to the birds, that humans can be friendly sometimes;-) Wonderfull footage, thanks for sharing! Greetings from Germany, Rolf

[@jan_wegener]

Video Natur glad you enjoyed the video. Birds being used to humans even before feeding them made this possible. Otherwise it can take very long time

[@kitebabe05]

😮😮💞💞🐥🐥

[@philipveerman7526]

Clearly somewhere in south eastern Australia, where this species is the common Fairy-wren (among many other species). But I wonder where.

[@tosgem]

Some of my earliest memories as a 3 yr old, leaving the farm house and wandering off on my own, are sitting there and having the fairy wrens come around me and almost walk with me. Maybe they weren't scared of a small child. Looking back, maybe they even had some concern for me at some strange level. I would now love to make a fairy wren habitat on my land. I can see they need safety from magpies and butcherbirds, so they need some thick hedges? Thorny? I'm not sure how dense to make them. I want to put a small bird bath in there, out of reach of larger birds, and some how make some habitat for insects and grubs that they can feed on.

[@jan_wegener]

That's nice! Yes, they do seem to like quite dense, but also "twiggy" bushes

[@Shanakadon89]

Hi Mate I was watching your videos really amazing good work. I’m new to bird photography and how to find locations of you can do a video about it that will be nice. I’m located in Melbourne thanks in advance 😊

[@thevocalcrone]

Go to Margaret River. There is a forest on caves road. The light house down at Augusta has Spinifex wrens they are amazing as well.

[@jamesdowie38]

Hi love your videos, if it is possible would you be able to do a video on using flash

[@jan_wegener]

James Dowie that will be my next video

[@lovekurt]

Amazing video! I have wrens living around my home. Do they eat the dry mealworms? (I guess they love live ones better...)

[@jan_wegener]

I don't think they like them

[@arjunbasandrai7487]

Hi Jan, Amazing Videos I had a question What is that you were feeding to the Wrens?

[@arjunbasandrai7487]

I couldn’t understand

[@jan_wegener]

Arjun Basandrai meal worms

[@colinwright8651]

Thanks Jan, another great video - are meal worms an all year food for the Fairy Wrens and are they a common food for most birds?

[@jan_wegener]

a lot of birds will take them as a treat

[@colinwright8651]

@@jan_wegener Our sole local retailer only sells the large worms for snakes and big lizards or the dried version - in your experience do you really need live worms or will dried work as well?

[@jan_wegener]

@@colinwright8651 I don't think dry ones work.

[@colinwright8651]

@@jan_wegener Thanks

[@jhellier]

6:20 - video footage looks amazing. Was it taken with a big white?

[@jan_wegener]

yes, 4/600

[@bradhienzachary]

Where in Australia was this taken? I have blue wrens around my home! Everyone loves blue wrens. What exactly are you feeding them?

[@jan_wegener]

Near Melbourne. They like Mealworms.

[@bradhienzachary]

@@jan_wegener thanks I’ll have to give it a try.

[@cygnetcommission4630]

5:19 "GIVE WORM. GIVE WORM. GIVE... GIVE WORM. GIVE WORM."

[@jan_wegener]

hehe

[@lisasutherland-fraser4479]

Jan where is this filmed?

[@jan_wegener]

Lisa Sutherland-Fraser Melbourne

[@sg3596]

what are you feeding them ??

[@jan_wegener]

Mealworms

[@patricksavard4451]

Where is this ?

[@jan_wegener]

Patrick Savard Melbourne

[@xwhite2020]

Are the worms breed or collected? How?

[@jan_wegener]

you can buy them in poet shops, but a lot of people breed them, too.

[@xwhite2020]

@@jan_wegener thanks.

[@DenisDolisy]

Absolutely amazing ! I'd like the birds in my backyard (mostly sparrows and blue tits) to do the same... But they get scared as soon as i move bit... There's no way even getting close to them... The closest i could get was about 3.5m but i had to stay absolutely still...

[@jan_wegener]

Hey, most birds aren't like this. These guys have been used to people for a long time, so that really helps. But it's possible everywhere, just takes time and effort

[@DenisDolisy]

@@jan_wegener Thank you. I'll keep trying to get their trust. Is it posible that it also depends on the kind of bird it is ? The blue tits seem to be much less scared than the sparrows...

[@melindascott8510]

Are these the same wrens who steal the jam from your scones? The lineup of the 4 wrens together, do you know their family dynamic? Are they 4 siblings or is there an adult female or 2 in the group? I'm very interested because I've been seeking an image or illustration of 4 young wrens together. I have 4 children, 3 boys and a girl, and I'd love to see this in a wren family even if the 4 together aren't necessarily siblings. The fairy wren is important to the Indigenous storylines of my 4 Gunai First Nation children..

[@jan_wegener]

They have different dynamics. It's often a few males with a bunch of females and young birds

[@bhavikshah5016]

Great video... but i cant imagine me holding a worm... i am that guy who who is scared of worms, spiders, lizards etc but love birds and dogs...

[@candaceporth3373]

It's a lovely video but I'm not sure I really think it's "right" to bait birds. If they trust humans too much, they can come to harm easier. I understand how appreciating them can lead to a better understanding of nature and conservation but I would not try it myself. There is a big controversy in the birding world about baiting anyway, as I'm sure you know.

[@jan_wegener]

Candace Porth I think it also depends on the context this is in. These are birds in a park accustomed to people. Personally I don’t see anything wrong with providing some extra food to birds that live in a world we are destroying. These wrens have made thousands of people appreciate birds that normally don’t care about birds in any way. I think that’s something that cannot be ignored.

[@lollllll2405]

This bird make people love bird so we can bait it ...? What is this logic ?

[@AriseRayamangalam]

Nice trick but dont break the trust

[@lollllll2405]

I dun think that is right to do this ... baiting bird and feeding animal are not good for wildlife . They are not ur pet or toy!!

[@sarahjohnson2895]

@Ultrarmor reptile666 yet all your videos are on keeping animals as pets hmmm and look at your profile pic

[@SudarshanAshiya]

your right audio channel is dead.

[@firepuppy1216]

chicken nugget

[@andrewbrowne4538]

I do not agree with the ethics of feeding birds for human exploitation. You’ve lost me forever on this one Jan.