I want to live stream a bird's nest on the internet


Novice Member
My apologies if this is the wrong forum. It appeared to be the most closely-related to my subject.

We've had a bird's nest under the eaves over our garage for years. Every year, twice a season, barn swallows nest there, hatch their babies, and then disappear until the next spring. Now, my grandson has asked me to put up a camera so he can watch the birds. (He lives in Coppell, Texas, about 20 miles from us.) The viewing season is very short - about two months. They lay their eggs (which would not be viewable)

I've included two pics. One shows the nest, to the right of it the security lights, then farther to the right, the weatherproof outlet.

You would think this would be simple, but it's gotten far more complicated than I had anticipated.

So, I'm asking for help. Here's what I'm looking for and can't seem to find. I want a camera that can live stream video 24/ 7. That means it has to be wired because I'm not changing batteries every other week. I have an outlet mounted under the eave, so getting to power is no problem. I can also mount the camera under the eave, although I'll need to think that through because the birds will land on anything and crap all over it. (I have a motion-detection spotlight setup near the bird's nest, and I had to enclose it in a wire cage to keep them from landing on it, building nests on it, and crapping all over it.)

I want to be able to make the camera viewable on the internet using a web browser. (I'll figure out how to do that through my router.) That eliminates all the cameras that use proprietary smartphone apps and cloud storage they want to charge you for.
  1. Weatherproof (or at least weather-resistant)
  2. Wifi-enabled (2.4GHz is fine, 5.5 GHz will work as well)
  3. Hard-wired (usb with adaptor is fine - direct to 120v will work as well, POE is NOT an option)
  4. Viewable and controllable with a browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari, whatever)
  5. Zoom and focus are must-haves, pan I might consider depending on what that means
  6. Decent quality video so the birds are in focus and clear
  7. Must be a live stream camera, not motion-activated
  8. Night vision is a bonus
  9. I don't want to spend a fortune - up to $200 US is acceptable - over that, it would have to be perfect
Does such a beast exist? I've been searching for over an hour and have yet to find what I'm looking for. The closest to it was a WyzeCam -V3, but it requires an app, which is a no-go. There are a plethora of live streaming cams, but they're all for indoor use only and their mounting mechanisms are designed for either sitting on a desk or perched on top of the monitor. I see live streaming monitors on the internet all the time - the eagle cams, beach cams, weather cams, etc., yet I can't seem fo find anything like that in all my searches.
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Novice Member
Just for the record, I found a pricey solution to the problem. HD Bird Box Camera

After talking with my daughter, I've decided not to buy it. There are plenty of bird cams online that my grandson can view, if he really wants to see birds nesting, laying eggs, hatching their young, and feeding them.


Distinguished Member
I don't have any suggestions for your unfortunately as my needs are fine with the motion activated/short livestream option, I think you may be better asking in the smart home forum section though:


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