CAM: Quacker Tracker (w/video)

   

Last fall, I had a contest to name a videocam that I had installed in a wood-duck box.
  Over the winter, a squirrel ate through the wire, and I replaced the cam just as the female owl moved in to the nesting box next door.
  Just before then, a female wood duck looked into the wood-duck box a few times but did not move in.
  I did a little video (above) the other night just to show you the image quality of the Quacker Tracker.
  Here's what happened last spring, and why we needed a camera in the box. 
  Click "Continue reading" for more.

  Last spring, a huge flood on April 15 or thereabouts put the Celery Farm and my backyard under water.
   The flood damage in my basement was mitigated a bit by the fact that the high water led a pair of wood ducks to swim my wood duck box.
   We soon saw the female going in and out of the box daily, but my wife Patty and I lacked a camera inside the box to know what was going on for sure. At one point, when Mrs. Ace was about to hatch her owlets, Mr. Ace hung out in the wood duck box as well.
  Needless to say, we were aching to know what exactly was going on inside that box.
  As it turned out, nine wood ducklings jumped out of the box in early June and promptly disappeared into the Celery Farm.
   Last fall, we installed the new video cam and had a naming contest, won by Carol Dickman, who dubbed it the Quacker Tracker.
   The image quality cannot compete with the owl cam, but it took just 15 minutes to install. What's more, the whole camera set-up runs about $125 or so from Birdhouse Spy Cam, including electrical hookup and microphone. The owl cam was probably well over $300 just for the wiring and connectors and miscellaneous  items needed to get the mike and camera to work. The cam did not come with directions either.
  So, if you want a cam just to know what the heck is going on in that bird box in your back yard, the Spy Cam may be the best way to go...