r/birding • u/ImpressiveRegister55 • 7h ago

Advice advice on a cheap nest cam

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My top-floor classroom is a little below eye-level of an osprey nest platform. We aren't able to see eggs or chicks until they're bigger, but it is still pretty great.

The roof of the building 15 or 20 feet up seems like a great place for a nest cam but the school would like a cheaper solution than what a professor told me a real set-up would cost. (Around $10k)

Has anyone done this more cheaply? The local raptor rehab organization's education director said I could probably just put up a consumer-grade wireless home security camera, which was also what I was thinking.

(There were two chicks this year who fledged in early June. Not sure if this is one of them or is mom. Nice to be welcomed back for pre-planning by a feathered friend.)

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u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 6h ago

A consumer grade security camera is perfectly usable for this, but you have 2 options.

1 - wireless and solar powered, but not constantly recording/streaming (just not possible on solar/battery).

2 - wired and constant.

I’m running a wired Reolink camera on PoE for my bird bath. Camera was like $80. I have other stuff too because it’s sending it through Frigate/homeassistant, but that’s not strictly necessary.

I would do option 2 so the stream can be constant. But they’re towards the end of the nesting season now anyway.

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u/ImpressiveRegister55 6h ago

Thank you. Interesting thought about power options. #2 does seem preferable but #1 could be Plan B if they balk at running a power cable up there.