TIFU by reporting a tufted titmouse to the authorities.

I am currently sitting in my kitchen absolutely dying of embarrassment while my husband refuses to stop laughing at me in the background. I work a pretty standard office job and I usually keep my phone on my desk to catch the occasional notification from my backyard. Earlier today I got an alert on my phone that said a visitor was detected. When I glanced down I saw these two massive dark eyes and what looked like a black mask staring straight into the camera lens. My heart immediately dropped into my stomach because from the angle and the proximity it looked exactly like a person wearing a balaclava peeking into our side window.

I went into full panic mode and called my husband while he was at the grocery store telling him that someone was trying to break in. I even posted a screenshot to our neighborhood watch group warning everyone to lock their doors. He rushed home and I was about to call the police when I finally pulled up the live stream to see what was happening. It turns out it was just a Tufted Titmouse that decided to land directly on the lens of our birdfeeder cam. Because the detail was so crisp the tiny face of this bird looked like a full sized human from a distance. I am now officially the bird lady who cried wolf to the neighborhood.

TL;DR: Thought a masked intruder was peeking in my side window and alerted my husband and the neighborhood watch. Turns out it was just a tiny bird landing on my smart feeder’s camera lens and looking way too much like a person in a balaclava.