My take on the Make: birdfeeder webcam.

I was intrigued by the Make: blog "birdfeeder cam". here I thought the cam should be more weather-proof and came up with this idea. I wanted plenty of action so included not only a suet feeder but a tube feeder for seed and a stand for dried corn cob as well.

Step 1 Collect materials

I had an old piece of fencing scrap to mount everything on. I had an old suet feeder, an old tube feeder and a squirrel feeder I made previously from the same wood. I saved a salad dressing jar and bought a cheap web cam and a pole set.

Comments

[tannerr52]

i know! get a wireless webcam, and make it solar/wind powered...that would be sweet

[bunglesmate]

Nice idea and has given me something to think about. How do you keep the camera cool in the sun when it's inside a glass jar. This will act like a greenhouse. Do you have a cover for the jar to act as a shade ?

[mjgsr]

I have never had it up in the summer. It was on the north side of the house out of direct sunlight. I thought of setting the camera up in a fish pond for a couple of days but have never gotten to it. I would have to make it more water tight than this set up. Thanks for the comment.

[dave spencer]

inspired by this, My son and I built a birdhouse with a translucent skylight and a webcam. My son thinks it is super cool to watch the birds inside the nest and we hope to see some little baby birds getting fed one day.

[mjgsr]

That looks really sweet! Are you doing an instructable on it? Post some captures from the cam.

[mjgsr]

I've added a couple more pics including cardinals.

[FrenchCrawler]

Nice... As far as the USB cable, just cut open a short usb cable and solder on longer wires. The wires should be colored differently, so it shouldn't be hard. You could probably even use an old phone (modem) cable to extend it.

[mjgsr]

I thought there was a couple of pairs of wire and grounding shield. I've never cut one open.

[FrenchCrawler]

Here's a link to help you: http://www.hardwarebook.info/Universal_Serial_Bus_(USB)

[mjgsr]

Thanks

[i.am.mozman]

I made a 20 foot USB cable for my data projector. Just take a short USB extension cable and cut it in half. Then take a length of CAT5 cable (you've got a spool of the stuff around, right?) and solder. Just remember your color pairs and you should be all good. I'm not sure what the max distance is for that...

[mjgsr]

Thanks

[Shark500]

I see large potential for a mix between this and http://inventgeek.com/Projects/usbairsoftturret/Overview.aspx

you could set it up on the net and offer timeslots for like $1 per minute to controll the gun. of the potential. if yo uuse the airsoft gun listed it wouldn't realy harm the animals but i'd give em a nice wakeup.

c'mon.. who dosn't wanna shoot a squirel.

[mjgsr]

Interesting idea. I wonder how long it would take the squirrels to figure it out and not come back. Many bird feeding enthusiasts spend more time and money to keep squirrels out of bird seed than the spend on feeding birds.