Greetings Birders,

Here are a couple photos of the first egg in our nest box. The egg is from our latest Tree Swallows. This is our third year experimenting with a small video camera installed at the top of the box looking down. You can see the first egg and you can make out the bird as she sits on it.

The camera we are using is from http://www.birdhousespycam.com/

It is a very small camera and quite easy to setup. Focus is a bit tricky, but with a little trial and error, you can get the focal point that you want. I have seen a similar camera offered by Harbor Freight Tools for less money, but I don’t know how good the quality is. They both have color imagery, sound, and have IR night lighting so you can see what goes on in the dark.

With some luck, in about two weeks, we should have some chicks to spy on. These pictures were taken using a 5.0 Mega Pixel camera set at 1/3 Sec. shutter speed at our TV screen, about 6 feet away.

Harry in Casper, WY