Instruction: Answer the given question by extracting information from the supporting document.

Input:
Question: I am an owl researcher, and would like to illuminate a relatively small area (about 2x2x3ft the nest area). Can I put a dimmer switch on this light?
Document: This infrared light works great. It is almost too bright for our application. I actually had to cover 3/4 of it with tape since we put it into a small area with a analog camera. The light sensor works well and automatically switches on and off based on the light in the area.
Hate to say it, and I really needed a small IR light but this one didn't fit the bill! Only 20ft forward and 10ft. width pattern. I needed a little more.If you have a really small area to light up, this would work.
Would be nice if they told you what wave length this thing operated at but it's not listed.Anyway, I'm using it to supplement the single LED on the Funai SV310FX1B Full HD Digital Video Camcorder. As you can imagine, with only a single LED, you really can't produce too much IR light.As a quick test, I pointed the light right at the Camcorder and it totally whites out(saturates) the screen like it should.For portability, I am connecting it to a small 12V battery.
Indoors it lights a room up like daylight. Outdoors your not going to get a wide area to light up, but i didn't really need it for that i had a sony cam outdoors and there was a dark spot outside of the circle of light created by the built in ir lights. so dark that if i went out in the night and stood in the dark area you wouldn't see me on the monitor, so i mounted this illuminator  up and put in the the dark area and the difference was dramatic.
I am using these lights to illuminate the area around a game feeder and camera and to the night vision and game camera it looks like broad daylight...they are built real nice use minimal power and have a built in photo sensor...the down side- one of the units I ordered leaked in the rain and filled with water (that unit will be getting returned) but even full of water it still worked!! I am going to order 4 more and will probably silicone those to avoid leaking
I purchased this light to illuminate an area about 10 feet from my IP camera. It worked great! Even better than the IR lights that some of those cameras come with. It doesn't come with a cord though, so be sure to get one!
This is the third one of these infrared lights I have purchased. For the money, you cannot beat these little lights. They work, are easy to install, and illuminate an area about 50ftx30ft ... I've got two of them on my garage that light up my two vehicles parked in the dark, unlit alley. They provide great light for my Foscam camera to keep an eye on them and email me a picture when anything gets close to either vehicle.
The light spread is pretty focused with a small outer ring of light, I would compare it to a focused regular 2xAA mini maglight in brightness on a camera (non led maglite). Its a spotlight beam. Because most cameras already come with about 12 ir lights of the same quality, adding this unit will be useful for those seeking just a tiny bit more light on a subject at 15feet, or for those who need a lot of extra light under 10feet away.
I like this device for price and the ease of use to plug into existing 12 volt cord in the Area where i have the IR Camera. Better light coverage for recording at night.
I bought this not expecting much considering the price (about 8 bucks) and was pleasantly surprised. It easily illuminates the area of my yard I needed lit. My cameras (Foscam FI8918W) are sensitive to the wavelength of these too, which was a worry since it doesn't state in the description what wavelength the LEDs are. The build quality is solid and the addition of an automatic light sensor switch is a nice bonus.
Answer: This is an extremely large IR light source for 12 Cubic Foot space at a distance of 2 or three feet. I suggest you go to an Electronics Tech. in your area to use maybe 2 IR LEDs to light the area.  Or, you could go to jameco.com and purchase a PWM dimmer for your large IR LED device.  Pulse Width Modulation will dim the IR LEDs, but you need to research whether the turning on and off of the LEDs will bother the Owls!  Contact the Electronics Dept. of your local University for ideas.  It's not a big deal to dim IR LEDs, but I'd be concerned about how this would effect the results of my research.  Building a simple 1 or 2 IR LED assembly would be simple.  Check for the wave length of your selected IR LEDs.  Humans won't see much except for a dim redish light, but what wouldl your Owls see?  You can purchase IR LEDs of different wave lengths to use in your research project.  Hope this helps.