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Nest box cameras and online webcams

Useful links on Webcams
 
Until we get around to writing something here, we can refer you to the very good advice by others:
Mark Smyth: http://saveourswifts.co.uk/camerakit.htm
Clarke Brunt: http://www.viridis.net/animals/nestbox-cameras.html
Bristol Swifts via a link on this page

Some tips, not included in the links above:

Positioning the camera
It frequently happens that the camera is positioned between the entrance and the nest. This has two disadvantages: first birds often wander off stage towards the entrance, and second Swifts spend more time facing away from the entrance, so away from the camera.

It is better to have the nest between the camera and the entrance,  the birds will then spend most of the time in the foreground facing the camera. Add ~100mm to the length of a normal nest box, beyond the nest form

To avoid the effect of glare from the entrance, and to improve picture quality install white lights.

Alternatively, have the entrance between the nest and the camera, so add ~100mm to the entrance end. With this arrangement, the birds will be more distant from the camera most of the time.

 Securing the camera:
Often the bracket supporting a nest box camera is so positioned that it is difficult to get a screw driver into position to secure the camera to the wall or roof of the box. This can be most awkward while up a ladder trying to retrofit a camera. Thus it is much easier to first secure the camera to a piece of plywood which extends outside the bounds of the camera, and then screw the plywood to the box.

Orienting the camera
If the camera is screwed to the wall of the box, then it can only be tilted, with no way to pan. Therefore a position on the wall needs to be chosen such that the direction the camera points contains the desired field of view.

If the camera is screwed to the roof of the box (assuming the roof is horizontal), then one can both tilt and pan the camera.

Routing the cables out of the box
The plugs on an AV cable are ~15mm diameter. Therefore in order to route the cable through the wall of the box, it requires a hole larger than this. An 18mm drill is suitable.

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