5 Mar 2010
Bird box camera, introduction & hardware
Two years ago, I decided that I wanted a webcam in a nest box. I spent some time doing research and discovered two major problems.
Firstly, no webcam was available which was small enough to fit in a bird box – only wireless av ‘spy’ cameras. Secondly, a bird box with built in camera cost way more than I’m willing to spend.
The lack of the most obvious technology struck me as odd. I had assumed that most cameras would be USB, but they weren’t, they were AV and even odder – wireless. These wireless cameras would do what I wanted, and they were cheap. I selected one from ebay which had IR capability and illumination, and adjustable focus as the subject was to be so close to the lens. Ebay was the obvious source, and I ended up with this;
It came with a wireless receiver, power supplies, and a 9v battery link for the camera. I rejected this in favour of mains power, as I didn’t want to disturb birds when changing the batteries. All that was missing was the ability to connect via USB. But that was easily fixed by using a EasyCap, again very cheap and readily available from ebay.
A word of advice about the EasyCap – it defaults to “Digital TV” as its input, which is a bit rubbish, as it doesn’t have a digital receiver. When trying to use it, be sure to go to options and select “Composite AV”.
Now all I needed was a bird box, and to install the camera. A quick trip to B&Q and I had a box for just £5. Then installation was simply a case of drilling a hole for the power lead, and another for the aerial (the vertical wire in the photo above). Then I used a glue gun to hold the camera in place.
Everything was setup, and all I needed now, was a willing bird. This was my first failure…
