Nest Box Video Equipment
March 13, 2009
The basic video components
Monitoring, recording and viewing nest box video
The most basic method of viewing nest box video is to plug the cable into your tv. However, this is not very useful for monitoring nesting activity unless you have a great deal of time to devote to tv watching. When monitoring a new species in the past, I have simply recorded 24 hour video and scanned the tapes in fast forward, pausing the tape wherever I wanted to closely observe a particular activity. This year, I have begun to use a digital video recorder, such as used in store surveillance. This device incorporates motion detection and records images on flash memory. The individual jpg's can be copied to a CF card and moved to my computer.
In addition to using the capture box, I also have been using a quad splitter to monitor up to 4 cameras at once. This proved very useful several years ago to monitor 3 barn swallow nests along with a weather station. Presently I am using the quad splitter and capture device with motion detection to monitor 2 flicker boxes just before the nesting season begins. When flickers or starlings visit the nest box, they are automatically recorded. The 2009 barn owl nesting season has also begun, with both owls roosting in their box, fitted with two video cameras.
The quad splitter was used 5 years ago to monitor barn swallow nests and a weather station (right).
Two flicker boxes are currently being monitored using the video capture box and quad splitter (left).
The video capture box provides a much easier way to grab jpg's from the video camera and move them to a computer. Previously I had relied on capturing a frame from recorded videotape, using an old web cam. That is how all the still photos in the species accounts on this site were produced. The barn owls (below right) were recorded yesterday, directly from the capture box. However, videotaping still is the best way to record "the whole story". The two flicker boxes (below left)are being monitored for visits, using the motion detection capability of the digital capture box. A starling is shown in the box on the left.
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When recording video using a vcr, it is important to use a device to record the time and date. I still use this stand alone device to record time and date continuously on the tape.
Further information and suggestions on using nest box cameras are offered on the following link.
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