The
miniature camera has two small logic boards and is taped to an optical
filter that screws into the digiscoping adapter that I normally use with my
Nikon Coolpix 4500. The only tricky bit is to get the focussing right
as you cannot see through the 'scope at the same time as the camera!
As the images the camera produces are shown on my PC in the study, I have to
twiddle the knobs on the camera and then go into the study to see what
effect this has produced - and then go back to the living room to make
another adjustment etc!
Back to our birds!
There
has been quite a lot going on in box 1 today. Here a bird is coming in
to land on the entrance hole.
He
(she?) has now settled on the hole and is inspecting the place ....
....
before popping in to take a closer look. The time is 10:36:20 in the
morning.
A
second later, his partner comes to see what's going on ...
...
only to be startled by the bird inside jumping up to the hole to have a look
out. This and the image above were only taken a second apart.
The
inside bird stays looking out of the nest box hole for nearly a minute
before finally popping out again.
He
doesn't go far though - he jumps up onto the roof for a few seconds ...
...
before popping back inside again!
Again,
he stays quite a while perched on the hole watching the world go by.
Is this all part of determining whether the nest box represents a suitable
nesting spot?
This
image was taken some time later and shows a surprised bluetit hanging on as
the occupant exits the box at speed!