Mini HDMI cable camera for nests in awkward places

This camera setup is designed to go into small spaces where my other setups would not fit

Its basically the same setup I use in my birdboxes, with a Raspberry Pi + Raspberry Pi v2 IR camera module + IR cut + some IR LEDs, with the addition of an adaptor which allows you to turn an HDMI cable into a camera cable extension.  I used a 3 meter HDMI cable (Amazon basics) as I wanted to get the camera into an otherwise inaccessible bit of the shed where a Treecreeper had been building a nest.

The HDMI cable adapter with the camera attached has a couple of spare cables in it, so I was also able to power four IR leds and switch an IR cut via the one HDMI cable.  The IR cut is the round black thing on top of the Raspberry Pi camera board that switches it from visible to IR light sensitive modes.

If I was to do this again I would add a few white LEDs that would switch on when the IR leds were off (it's possible do the IR on/vis off and vice versa  by using the same GPIO pin with NPN and PNP transistor combined).  As-is, having the IR cut is a bit superfluous since without the IR light it's pretty dark in there, and a 'day mode' doesn't see much without any visible light illumination - one for a future post (when I've modified it!).

You can get the HDMI adaptor direct from it's French maker via Tindie, or via UK all-round supplier of shiny must-haves Pimoroni (hint it's a bit cheaper to go direct to Tindie).

Here is a screen capture of the Treecreeper nest

The camera cable is poked through a gap in the shed structure into a void space created by the corner cladding on the outside.

Here is the bird bringing nesting material in...

This gives some idea of the length of the cable

I sort of threw together the perfboard sitting on top, so don't look too hard...  I've also used a longer than normal camera ribbon cable so that it comfortably reaches the HDMI adaptor.

I've enlarged it below to give show how the Pi end of the HDMI adaptor works.

Unfortunately our Treecreeper didn't get as far as egg laying, I can only assume that she found a preferable site elsewhere.  I do wonder if the bench saw in the shed put her off.... But it does mean that I've now got a mini camera for tricky places for next year...

Robin nest 2017 - a dramatic end?

Part of the early morning routine of late has been to 'check the robin chicks'.  They were getting quite big, and looked to be nearing fledging.... However, Saturday morning's camera view looked like this....

Something has moved the camera (08:13, Sat 7 May in the above screenshot).  As the three chicks have grown there has been a bit of camera jostling going on, but these have only been nudges, so a dramatic shift of perspective cant have been due to the chicks or adult birds.  For info, the above view is pointing out of the hole the adults have been feeding the chicks through, with the nest being a 90 degree rotation to the left.... the obvious question is '...are the chicks still there?

All motion is captured for this nest, we can 'rewind' and capture the 'event'.... so here it is:

Some screen captures identify the culprit....

Top: ?black and white hair
Middle: Looks suspiciously like a cat's paw poking through the entrance hole
Bottom: Is that a whisker?

Culprit = Cattus domesticus

So we immediately assumed that our robin chicks had met a furry end, even after my best attempts to cat proof the nest site, however if we go back to the previous evening, there are no chicks... so did the cat find an empty nest site?

Have the chicks flown the nest??

A collective sigh of relief all round as it turns out that the last two Robin chicks fledged at approx 5pm the previous day, so had a narrow escape.

Chick 2 fledges 

Chick 3 gone a few minutes later

The first chick fledged a full 24 hrs before chick 2+3 , however the adults kept up the feeding on the nest until approx 1 hr before the other two fledged.

Interestingly within a few hours of the nest being vacated... we spotted someone else possibly looking for a home.....

Maybe we will get a bumblebee nest after all....