DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9w0vt4bfb
title: Raspberry Pi nest cameras – an affordable tool for remote behavioural and conservation monitoring of bird nests

description: 1. Bespoke (custom-built) Raspberry Pi cameras are increasingly popular
 research tools in the fields of behavioural ecology and conservation,
 because of their comparative flexibility in programmable settings, ability
 to be paired with other sensors, and because they are typically cheaper
 than commercially built models. 2. Here we describe a novel, Raspberry
 Pi-based camera system that is fully portable and yet weatherproof –
 especially to humidity and salt spray. The camera was paired with a
 passive infra-red sensor, to create a movement-triggered camera capable of
 recording videos over a 24-hr period. We describe an example deployment
 involving “retro-fitting” these cameras into artificial nest boxes on
 Praia Islet, Azores archipelago, Portugal, to monitor the behaviours and
 interspecific interactions of two sympatric species of breeding
 storm-petrel (Monteiro’s storm-petrel Hydrobates
 monteiroi and Madeiran storm-petrel Hydrobates castro)
 during their chick-rearing periods. 3. Of the 138 deployments, 70% of all
 deployments were deemed to be “Successful” (Successful was defined as
 continuous footage being recorded for more than one hour without an
 interruption), which equated to 87% of the individual 30 s videos. The
 bespoke cameras proved to be easily portable between 54 different nests
 and reasonably weatherproof (~14% of deployments classed as “Partial” or
 “Failure” deployments were specifically due to the weather/humidity), and
 we make further trouble-shooting suggestions to mitigate additional
 weather-related failures. 4. Here we have shown that this system is fully
 portable and capable of coping with salt spray and humidity, and
 consequently the camera-build methods and scripts could be applied easily
 to many different species that also utilise cavities, burrows, and
 artificial nests, and can potentially be adapted for other wildlife
 monitoring situations to provide novel insights into species-specific
 daily cycles of behaviours and interspecies interactions.
description: Software: This paper details the methods to build a bespoke
 camera. Here we save the 5 python scripts used to run
 ('nestcam.py' and 'shutdown.py') or set up the camera
 ('script for RaspPi terminal_RTC.py', 'script for RaspPi
 terminal_runonboot.py', 'script for RaspPi
 terminal_usb.py'). Data: This bespoke camera was
 deployed across two breeding seasons (Monteiro's storm-petrel,
 <em>Hydrobates monteiroi</em> 2019 and Madeiran storm-petrel,
 <em>Hydrobates castro </em>2019-2020). The data saved here
 includes: the level of success recorded per deployment (based on success,
 partial failure (usable), partial failure (non-usable) or failure) and
 causes of the failures suggested. Further suggestions for improvements are
 given in the paper.
description: Data and software uploaded include: - Raw
 data: all deployment data with columns: nest number, species, year, camera
 success/failure/partial, issues of deployment, number of videos per
 deployment, hours of footage (calculated using the number of video
 deployments as 30s per video), video start and end dates, video start and
 end times, date and time wrong (1 = yes), breeding stage of nest. Note
 that nest 7, <em>Hydrobates castro</em> date: 06/02/2020 the
 PIR sensor did not work and so recorded 6.4 hours without a
 break. - Software scripts saved in python:
 - 'nestcam.py' =
 main script to run the camera/PIR sensor - 'shutdown.py' = script
 that will shut the Raspberry Pi board down when triggered - 'script for RaspPi
 terminal_RTC.py' = this details the command lines to be used in the
 Rasbperry Pi 'terminal' which assists in the camera set up of
 the Real Time Clock  - 'script for RaspPi
 terminal_runonboot.py' = this details the command lines to be used in
 the Rasbperry Pi 'terminal' which assists in the camera set up
 running once the Raspberry Pi board is turned on - 'script for RaspPi
 terminal_usb.py' = this details the command lines to be used in the
 Rasbperry Pi 'terminal' which assists in
 'mounting' the USB on the Rasbperry Pi board