discussion / Camera Traps  / 12 September 2018

Hardware Advice Needed: Cameras for seabird' nests

Hi everyone,

I am part of a project about seabird conservation in Cape Verde Islands. We need to monitor tropicbird, Cap Verde petrel and other seabird’ nests, in order to understand the predation pressure (made by rats, cats, or even humans). Therefore, we need to put cameras on the nests, but we need those to be with the following characteristics:

  • Small (4x4x4 cm approx.)
  • With movement detector
  • With infrared
  • Able to focus from close (10cm for example)
  • And the most important thing: with very high battery autonomy (if it is possible, these should be charged using USB, we do not have electricity as we work on remote islands) and with high image storage capacity

In anyone knows about cameras with these characteristics, please contact the people in charge of the project: Jacob [email protected] / Teresa [email protected] . Thank you very much for your help!

Laura.




Hi Laura, if you are after a simple store-on-board camera trap, I have several colleagues that swear by "Swift" brand cameras: http://www.trapping.com.au/store/motion-cameras/swift3c-standard.html
A bit pricey for what they are perhaps. Also, a review site: https://www.wildernesstoday.com/best-trail-camera/ 

Hi Laura, 

Paige and @YvanSG have also been discussing your question on twitter, Paige has a suggestion that might be helpful?  

@paigebyerly you might have recommendations!

— Yvan Satgé (@YvanSatge) September 26, 2018

We use & I love basicMoultri game cameras—cost effective, relatively high storage capacity, easy to mount & very durable!

— Paige Byerly (@paigebyerly) September 26, 2018

Cheers, 
Steph

Hi Laura,

Apologies, I should have read your requirements more closely. 4cm x 4cm x 4cm is obviously quite small, and I am not aware of any trail cameras that size, which I imagine you already new, but I am happy to have a better look around. For example, there's something like this: https://www.uniden.com/shop/security/1080p-full-hd-wire-free-battery-camera/, but I can't speak to performance. It does look close to the dimensions you are after (if removed from the stand) and has in-built motion detection and micro SD card internal recording.  It states that using 4 x CR123 batteries, it can operate for 4-6 Months, although I am always cautious about these sorts of specifications (I tend to at least halve deployment period projections given by manufacturers if I can't independently validate claims, just so there aren't any nasty surprises). Is something like this worth considering at all?

Cheers,

Rob

Thank you all for your help :)! I am passing all the information to the people of the team who are actually interested in the cameras. Let's see if something fits to their requirements! Thanks again!