Mech1's Bird Box and Feeder Cams

Mech1

Hi sorry about the earlier thread, a bit premature on my behalf so I had to edit out the original text.

Anyway, Bluetits have moved in today,:D

Check it out here. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

nest building seems to be underway.

Alun

That seems a bit on the late side, my bluetit here in Bray has just laid her second egg. She started her nest building a good few weeks ago.

Mech1

I have added a camera outside the box today so the feed can be switched from one to the other

Mech1

The outside camera will be focused on the local cats / foxes etc in the garden at night time.

Watch and listen its live here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

Sorry we had a few breaks in the live stream today, just getting to grips with the software.

Hows the picture for anyone logging in to watch?

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

Moved to cat / fox cam now

swifts need our help!

After seeing your link to ustream I registered but cant see anything from my cameras. I'm linking from a DVR via an easy capture device. How do you link your camera?

Mech1

swifts need our help! wrote: »

After seeing your link to ustream I registered but cant see anything from my cameras. I'm linking from a DVR via an easy capture device. How do you link your camera?

Sorry man i dont know a lot about this, it just happened to work, im putting camera into a Black magic intensity Shuttle http://www.amazon.com/Blackmagic-Design-Intensity-Shuttle-BINTSSHU/dp/B003WSQTWU and out of that via USB3 into Asus ati 4870x2, 2gbGDDR5 , 2 GPUs Graphics card http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/asus-radeon-hd-4870-x2-469509/review, then out to ustream.

Mech1

Camera upgrade tonight, should look lots better tomorrow, Nest building ongoing.

Click below to watch live

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Alun

That's much better! What camera is it out of interest? The one I have claims to be colour but is effectively black and white with the amount of sunlight that gets in through the frosted glass window on the top.

I have my camera attached to a laptop running WebcamXP via a USB grabber (EasyCap) which works OK. The cable runs through a conduit I had laid in the garden when we had it re-done a few years ago, into the conservatory where the cable comes in and the laptop is connected to the home network via homeplugs (WiFi is too patchy out there.)

Mech1

Alun wrote: »

That's much better! What camera is it out of interest? The one I have claims to be colour but is effectively black and white with the amount of sunlight that gets in through the frosted glass window on the top.

I have my camera attached to a laptop running WebcamXP via a USB grabber (EasyCap) which works OK. The cable runs through a conduit I had laid in the garden when we had it re-done a few years ago, into the conservatory where the cable comes in and the laptop is connected to the home network via homeplugs (WiFi is too patchy out there.)

This camera is now in the roof of the birdhouse:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/sentient-1000tvl-wired-outdoor-camera-with-25m-night-vision-a15rq

The wall attachments etc unscrew from the main body and slide down the wire to end up outside the box.

Mech1

Another small camera adjustment tonight so the view is getting better again. They seem very sluggish in getting this nest sorted, although what would I know? First time bird mother here!

Mech1

I assume that any day soon the female will stay the night?

Alun

Mech1 wrote: »

I assume that any day soon the female will stay the night?

Mine started staying the night very early on before the nest was even partly complete.

Before she started laying, she usually left the box at around 5.50am and returned for the night around 8pm, coming back at regular intervals with nest material. She started with moss and dried grass and as the nest nears completion she lined it with feathers and animal hair.

Now that she's started laying, she seems to stay in a bit later in the mornings, until about 6.45am. I understand early morning is when they actually lay their eggs, one a day, so I assume this is why, but I haven't found any footage where she's obviously laying around that time, so it may be much earlier.

It's hard to tell, as she's covering the eggs with feathers, but she should be up to 5 eggs by now. Last year, you could clearly see all the eggs, so either she's covering them due to the cold snap, she's learnt from her mistakes last year (one egg didn't hatch and two runts died in the nest) or she's actually a different bird altogether!

I really must get a better camera for next year, but I daren't disturb them at this stage.

EDIT: Have just seen that she definitely has laid 5 eggs so far, phew !

Mech1

WooHoo! Female finished building nest, and tonight is her first night staying over:D

Live camera feed here : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Alun

Here's mine from earlier this evening. She's definitely laid 5 eggs as expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_E96E2BdmM

Alun

And another egg this morning makes six

Alun

It looks like she's started brooding them. She's spending a lot longer on the nest during the daytime and I've caught the male coming in with bits of food and feeding her.

Mech1

My little bird is home and asleep here tonight, I am hoping for first egg tomorrow!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

New outside view sorted today

Mech1

We lost the sound today, repairs tomorrow so.

Mech1

Dont think there are any eggs yet

Mech1

Looks like she is settling in for the night again.

Mech1

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Click above to watch live

Mech1

Moved to cat / fox cam for a few hours

Mech1

My Bluetit nestbox continued.....

Well still no sign of any eggs, but I got the second camera sorted and the sound fixed.

Check it out live here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Enjoy

OpenYourEyes

Moved that other thread here, and changed the thread title - best to keep everything in the same place.

Mech1

Mealworms gone but you can still watch the video by clicking the link at my ustream channel.

Moved HD cam to my seed feeders now.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

Bluetit back for the night again, male just popped in to feed her!

Mech1

1st Egg has arrived!!!

Alun

Mech1 wrote: »

1st Egg has arrived!!!

Congratulations!

Our bluetits stopped at 7 in total, and she's brooding away.

Mech1

1st egg laid this morning!

Should be one laid every morning from now on for maybe 8 to 12 days.

Tune in at approx 5.00Am till maybe 6.30Am to see each laying Live. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Alun

Mech1 wrote: »

1st egg laid this morning!

Should be one laid every morning from now on for maybe 8 to 12 days.

Tune in at approx 5.00Am till maybe 6.30Am to see each laying Live. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

I have motion detection turned on on my camera so it records a short video every time motion is detected, and as hard as I tried I never spotted the exact moment when each egg was laid. The other thing I noticed that made it difficult was that while she was still laying, she'd hide the eggs quite well under a pile of fur and feathers, so it was quite difficult to make out when a new one was added. Now that she's brooding, they're all usually arranged in a nice symmetrical pattern in the middle of the nest so they're easily visible when she briefly leaves them to feed or collect food from the male at the box entrance.

Mech1

Egg count up to 3 seen clearly, maybe another one hidden.

Mech1

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/62094518

Skip to end part of video I think I can see 5 eggs just as she gets off the nest.

Alun

Mech1 wrote: »

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/62094518

Skip to end part of video I think I can see 5 eggs just as she gets off the nest.

Yes, I think you're right.

Mech1

Definite 6 eggs visible this morning. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

7 eggs now, she spent a lot of time today in the nest box so maybe incubating is starting, please share this link the more viewers the better.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mech11

Mech1

I also sorted a pretty closeup external cam should make for good viewing of mr bluetit coming and going and eventually the fledglings.

Alun

Looks like there's 8 there now, that's one more than mine. Mine started incubating around the 1st May, so should start fledging within the next few days.

My camera is accessible from the Internet, but currently not via a service like ustream, so I'm only able to share it with a limited number of friends and family so as not to overload my upload bandwidth, but I'll put up any interesting snippets on YouTube. I'm determined this year to catch the moment of hatching!

Alun

I was just searching the web for other webcams and came across this strange one ...

http://biggonline.co.uk/2015/may15/may15-1.htm

One of their nests has two females sitting on 18 eggs between them !!! I never knew this happened.

Alun

First chick born about 15 mins ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BxAzGxHeQQ

Mech1

What's the story if the male bird doesn't help the female feed?

No sign of the male today.

Alun

Mech1 wrote: »

What's the story if the male bird doesn't help the female feed?

No sign of the male today.

I found that while incubating, the male bird would only occasionally make an appearance, and the female would often leave the eggs for a while to go off and feed. If he did come in it'd be in and out quite quickly, so you might easily miss it.

I've just captured egg no 4 hatching, so will upload that to Youtube as soon as I can.

EDIT: Here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUBFE84zvl8

I think this is the male as he looks a bit clueless as to what to do with the shell. Shortly after this the female came in, and immediately started eating the shell, as she did with all the others, presumably to replenish her calcium levels.

Alun

The last time I looked last night 4 out of the 7 had hatched, but she's staying firmly on the nest today, so I can't see if any more have hatched. The lashing rain isn't good news for either her or the male to be out catching food for the new hatchlings, fingers crossed it stops soon !!

EDIT: I've just gone through some of the recorded footage from this morning and it looks like there's 5 chicks now. Not much evidence of feeding though which isn't good news.

EDIT2: It's hard to tell, but I think I only see one egg remaining amongst the squirming mass of little pink wormy chicks At let the rain has stopped now so they'll be able to get out and find food. Given the delay in the last 2 or 3 hatching, it looks like we'll have another 'runt' or two this year again, whose survival will be questionable

Mech1

Good luck Alun, we are hoping the best for your little ones, keep the videos coming.

Alun

Mech1 wrote: »

Good luck Alun, we are hoping the best for your little ones, keep the videos coming.

I can't see the egg any more so I assume it's hatched, but it's difficult to see how many there are when they're all huddled together in one mass. If it has I don't hold out too much hope for it though, after last year's experience. The others have come on leaps and bounds in only two days, so it'll be lucky to get any food however hard the mother tries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzKz-QWuX6Q

fr336

Off air!!

Mech1

fr336 wrote: »

Off air!!

yep, i guess the ATC feed went down also, internet supplier problem, the ATC is set to reboot itself with no input from me, the birdcam cant do that, yet.