Camera mounted in owl box

W

Wetstuff

Young grasshopper
Oct 2, 2017
35
11
Salisbury Maryland
Technically, this is a Wood Duck box. I mounted about 4 of them in my marsh a few years ago, but the DNR has done better on the other side of the creek; I repurposed the boxes. Previously, I had an HIK cam mounted just below the box but have gone thru two cams because of corrosion within the "WP" connectors. (..wrapped with 3M tape..) I also had much misery with the difficult Interface. This new kit is Dhaua. (thanks to someone here for the recommend)

To, hopefully, solve the corrosion issue the connector is inside the box. I am not free of the spider issue, but a squirrel (Tree Rat) came along and cleaned it for me with its tail. I can also hear them, so I can run up the lane and shoo them off... The Screech Owls should be looking for winter quarters soon.

Jim

owlcam2.jpg Owl.jpg
 
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Nice! Looking forward to some images from you.

I started a bluebird nesting box cam in Feb. of this year, got sick, yada yada, didn't have it ready in time. It WILL be ready THIS spring.
I went with el cheapo 720p ONVIF, Blue Iris-compatible cam with no IR, will be using a separate IR illuminator away from cam, maybe spider webs will be minimized this way. We'll see!
 
Bluebirds are cool, Tony. Mine few stay in the front pasture - too far to run cable. I was thinking about trying Martins again because a cam could be pretty active... 'Once you got them; you have them for life' ...I thought. The GD Starlings plagued the house I put up ...I got rid of. I'll see if I can take a screenshot when an owl comes around. I'd have to wait for a flying exit because I'd never be ready in time for incoming.

I also have two IR lamps off to one side. One floods the driveway and the other broad-beams the open area ~100' in front of the camera. I am going to look into more/better lamps. Cheers.

Jim
 
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I ran about 70 feet of Ubiquiti Toughcable Pro (CAT-5e, outdoor-rated, shielded) to a fence post for the box, Ubiquiti surge protectors on that shield with a separate, driven ground rod. We'll see if that makes it though the fierce lightning we get here in the southeast. I'm running 12VDC passive POE on 2 of the cable pairs out to the cam and IR.

if lightning burns it all up I'll instead run 120VAC power out there and make the data path a pair of PLA (Power Line Adapters); if that doesn't cut it I'll try a pair Ubiquiti 5GHz M5 Locos configured as a Layer 2 Transparent Bridge.

I have a pair of TP-LINK PLA's that work my AirCam looking at my flag, been rock steady for 3 years. That would be quicker & cheaper than the radios and I'll try that next if, as I said, Mother Nature decides to vaporize the passive POE, cam and IR. That's why the 'el cheapo' cam!

Out here, phone lines, CAT cables and analog CCTV Siamese cables (video + 12VDC) take the biggest/most often lightning hits, power lines aren't immune but they seem to get hit less often than the 3 aforementioned.
 
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Great pix. Being in the Bankhead National Forest, we've got our share of all kinds of woodpeckers; ladderbacks, yellowhammers, and those big, crook-necked pileated woodpeckers.
 
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MrMotofy said:
Yep pretty much just simpler wording in case it went over anybody's head.
Click to expand...
Did you click on the link in that post? It's a picture of the bridge. How much "simpler" could it be? :wtf:

BTW, that's a rhetorical question.
 
Oh apparently you haven't talked to some of the people I have. Like seeing deer in a field and asking oh are they out this time of year, or does it work if the batteries are dead. I could go on
 
MrMotofy said:
I could go on
Click to expand...

Please don't....you joined IPCT today and I guess I'm next on your lecture list about what to do and what not to do with regard to IP cams, networking, deer hunting, driving, shopping for clothes, choosing a good wine, yada, yada yada.
 
As an FYI: If you want to seal a connection up really tight there is 'Liquid electrical tape' stuff, it's usually right by the other electrical connection stuff in the box stores. It's a thick coating that you brush on. It comes in different colors. It's a basically water tight seal.
 
TBH this could be a really good way of concealing a camera without letting the birds in. I'd have thought in a more urban environment, you could put a smaller bird box up with the camera lens actually recessed in the door hole, and the fact it was a camera would probably go unnoticed as a camera by 99.9% of people as they'd just see the box upon looking.
 
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