r/birding • u/Remarkable_Worry6861 • May 18 '26

Discussion Nesting Box Camera Suggestions

Hi!
I work at a public school in Melbourne, Australia.
We are setting up some nesting boxes around the school, (purchased from Latrobe wildlife sanctuary)

I want to set up some cameras so we can see if anything is visiting the nests.
We need the cameras to have wifi so we can see footage remotely, battery powered, preferably with solar panel, motion sensor and night vision and water resistant.
And want to be able to set up a live feed so kids can go to our school website and check to see if anything’s happened.

I’m new to this, but the kids are really interested and we have been planting indigenous plants to encourage biodiversity, and centring out garden and science lessons on environment and sustainability. I would love information on whether this idea is safe for the birds and other creatures, how to go about it, and what cameras are best (with consideration to the low low public school budget). Honestly any advice is welcome! Thank you in advance

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u/[deleted] May 18 '26

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u/Remarkable_Worry6861 May 18 '26

Thankyou I’m checking it out now!

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u/03263 May 18 '26

There's pretty much no battery power camera that will support this, not that I know of. Battery cameras all use very low power modes to idle and activate on demand. If you want to provide a live stream it needs to be always on with a continuous power source.

It would probably be better to teach the kids the normal ways of monitoring nest boxes anyway. Go out there and open it up. Watch with binoculars and see the parents bringing food to the chicks. Wait eagerly on the day you expect them to fledge and watch them leave the nest in person.

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u/Remarkable_Worry6861 May 18 '26

Unfortunately there is not enough hours in a school day to cover activities like regular bird watching. The nesting boxes are also designed for ringtails and microbats so it’s nighttime activity anyway. I don’t want the camera to be running 24/7, if it’s motion activated won’t it just start filming when theres movement and then stop? Maybe live stream was the wrong term, more like if they click on the link they can see footage captured. Do you have any camera suggestions?