Bird box camera

Thanks so much for the response!

I did have a look at this site but it required a lot of ‘add ons’ so it came in at the same price.

Thanks for the helpful tips re the WiFi as I don’t think mine is as good as it should be as I had to buy a cable to cope with video conferencing when working from home!

You’ve given me some food for thought!

UPDATE: Whistling Joe after taking another look at the wired version it is significantly cheaper! £116! Thanks so much!

Interesting thread, I have a wired camera box and a wifi camera box, the wifi one from Gardenature because I liked the design of the box which allows the camera to be sighted to  the side of the nest.  I had problems getting my laptop to see it but I have just resolved that issue.  However, I have just noticed this nest box & camera system on the RSPB site  

It allows viewing on smart phone and anyone can view the nest,  which appeals to me because I would like to make it available to anyone interested in our village.  There is only one review which is not good so I wondered if anyone has one of these boxes?  In particular can the video be viewed on a laptop and do you have to pay for storage in some cloud system?

David

Hi David

I haven’t heard anything re the RSPB one but I am delighted with the Green Feathers WIFI one which was recommended above!

www.green-feathers.co.uk/.../complete-de-luxe-wifi-bird-box-camera-kit

I watch it on the app on my iPhone and plan to share footage on our local neighbourhood FB which I’ll record rather than a live stream (you get notifications when you have visitors). I really am so happy with it! I’ve tried to attach a pic to show you your options while viewing - there is an upload to the cloud option.

Green Feathers has other connection options also such as viewing on your TV etc..

S

Hi Sorm
Thanks for your reply and useful photo. I have a few questions if you don't find answering
1. can you access the camera with a Windows pc / laptop, because they only mention iOS and Android?
2. From the photo I see you can record a video, does this save / store to your phone or the camera SD card?
3. Do you have to remove the SD card to access the recordings or can you access it remotely?
4. My smart phone is Pay As You Go, is the Greenfingers "app" expensive to run, given that it is running all the time?
5. The box seems very deep, is there any reason for that? I can't understand why the box is so deep, it just means that unless the birds use extra meterial to raise the nest to hole height, the camera could be out of focus?

I like the idea of streaming but I see that is done via You Tube and my concern about streaming live footage is that it would reduce our internet band width.

Some interesting systems on the Greenfeathers site, I still can't understand why the box is so deep.

Update, I have ordered the wifi camera and the box that allows side viewing

David

Hi David

I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to answer most of these as I haven’t had any visitors yet so I’ve not tried to do anything with the footage!

The people at Green Feathers are brilliant at answering all queries plus they have some helpful YouTube videos!

I do absolutely everything on my IPhone as I find it quite straight forward to edit videos etc rather than the laptop but I have a contract so not sure what the costs of running the app (data wise) would be on a PAYG phone.

Thanks Sorm, I decided to just buy one, I don't like the long one so I have paid extra for the side view box and bought the camera separately. There are a lot of answered questioins on the Green Feathers website and it seems that you can access the video with Windows 10. I have 11 bird boxes, two of which presently have cameras, one wired, one with wireless transmitter and receiver and this box will be different again in that it connects to a router. Last year I posted videos on our village Facebook page where there was lots of interest but I had to edit out sad parts where only five of the nine eggs didn't hatch and one of the young didn't seem to get enough food, it was left alone in the box and sadly died the next day.

In the wired nestbox, a Blue Tit has covered the floor of the box with nesting material and was sheltering in the box at night but since I changed the camera last week, it has relocated to the newly erected wireless box but hasn't laid any carpet yet :)

Hi David, I've been trying to find some answers on the internet about the behaviour of blue tits and I somehow came across this thread. I read that you've bought the side view box like myself and that you already have interest of some kind.

What I'm trying to figure out is whether the birds would be more interested in a vertical box than the side view box. because for the the last five years, in an ideal place for a bird box (No sun and nearby tree for protection) they've nested successfully in my home made vertical box but I had no camera inside. So for the first time, I bought the side view nest box with camera from Garden Nature but they don't appear to be interested in it, but they have visited my neighbours vertical box about 15 meters away from mine. Would the shape or hole position play a part.

I know it's to early to say where they'll finally nest, but it would be nice to see some kind of interest in mine.
Another concern I've thought about is do the birds feel secure with light coming through the hole covered with frosted perspex?

I Don't know if you or anyone else can give me any advice.

Alan

That sounds like a great set up! This was my first box so I don’t really know what is going to work and what isn’t yet. I’m not overly happy with my box placement but didn’t really have many options re access/internet coverage etc!