On 12/12/19 11:10, nev young wrote:
> I'm sure there must be other bird watchers out there.
>
> I have a bird box fitted with a Pi Zero and a PiCam NOIR.
> The inside of the box is illuminated by a couple of IR LEDs.
> Live feed at: http://www.nevilley.org.uk:8084
> The pictures are OK but I'd like to get colour.
>
> Any advice on how tolerant birds are to having white light LEDs on 24/7
> inside the box.  I wouldn't want them to be scared off or discouraged
> because it doesn't get dark.
>
I don't know but I gave up on watching my blue tits after dark because
they're boringly asleep. Instead I drilled a large hole in one side of
the box (away from the sun) and covered it inside and out with plastic
from a milk carton. This let in a lot of light during the day an gave an
excellent picture on just an ordinary camera. They didn't seem to mind.

They laid 10 eggs last spring, 9 hatched and one chick died. That left 8
young which fledged and left the nest.

You need to fasten the plastic and the camera very firmly and shield the
wiring because blue tits suffer from attacks of sub-psychotic rage (I
still don't know where the wide-angle converter went).

Incidentally, the nest box is occupied from New Year onwards at least so
ideally a nest box should be in position from then.

Another Dave

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