Nature Cameras
Posted on October 18th, 2005, by Mike, in Nature
This year we were privileged to be hosts to a family of blue tits who selected our nesting box as the location to bring up their brood.
We were treated to weeks of frantic activity by both parents, venturing to our bird table for seed and fat, whilst the squeaking noises from the box grew in intensity. All the while we were desperate to see what was happening inside the box as the chicks grew and finally fledged.
We missed the actual moment when the fledglings left the nest but we did see them sitting on the ground or on low branches of bushes looking fluffy and completely unafraid of humans. It was a wonderful moment to see the results of all that hard work by the parents.
For next year we have decided to invest in a bird box camera so we won’t have to wonder what is going on inside the box, assuming we get a pair to nest!
My investigations have led me to Nature Cameras who sell a variety of solutions, including self-install cameras and fully installed boxes with wired or wireless cameras built-in.
Both wired and wireless cameras provide an AV feed for connection to a TV or video but, after speaking to them this week, they will soon be offering a digital USB version of the wireless base-station which can be connected to your PC. The product is still undergoing reliability and technical trials but should be available within the month.
The first one is mine!
Don’t you just love it when technology is put to such pleasing uses?
April 28th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Hello. I’m looking to put wireless cams in my birdboxes but I’m lost about buying them. Can you suggest some sources or forums which discuss this topic?
Thanks
Jim Cummings
Springville, PA 18844
May 5th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Jim,
My only experience of birdbox cameras is from Nature Cameras (http://www.naturecameras.co.uk/) who supplied mine. They are based in the UK but may be able to deliver to the US.
Their website does have quite a lot of information about the technologies available so it is well worth a read.
I guess the one factor that I didn’t consider when buying my camera is that inside a birdbox it is pretty close to dark all the time - the tiny entrance hole provides very little light. This means that unless you have an infra-red camera you are not going to see very much! It also means that there is very little need for a colour camera as the infra-red light appears monochrome.
You can, of course, illuminate the box with normal visible light but I consider this to be too intrusive for the birds and may disturb their normal waking/sleeping patterns.
Good luck with your birdboxes - our bluetit box currently has 10 eggs which we expect to start hatching in the next two weeks!
Mike.