Maybe double sided tape is a good solution (cheap and easy) and you can identify the species

Zbigniew, are you suggesting identification through cross-section analysis of mammal hair? Interesting. May not be so useful for any birds that will also likely utilise the boxes, but something worth thinking about.

We use a GoPro (and the GoPro app on a phone to view what the camera is seeing from a distance) mounted to an extendable carbon fibre or fibreglass pole that extends up to 16 metres in height to check cockatoo nest boxes. We mount the camera using flexible wire, so it can be bent to face the camera down towards the nest floor, and a bit of duct tape to secure it. Very effective, however our nest boxes have a wide entrance which makes it easy to manoeuvre the camera in to the entrance and out again. We monitor nest boxes up to 16 metres off the ground this way which has significantly reduced our need to climb to nest boxes to monitor them. For tiny nest boxes, with small entrances, this method may be quite difficult. There are a couple of pre-made nest inspection cameras available, but these are generally more expensive than rigging up your own.

Thanks for sharing Karleah.

The issue of monitoring boxes above 1.8m is very real in my environment (mine rehabilitation). There is an OH&S reluctance (it's actually an outright ban without recourse or intelligent discussion) to allow anyone above that height because they cannot rate the risk level of the trees (unlike built structures). So to minimise risk and minimise thought, they place an ban on any work above 1.8m without certification. Therefore if we cannot get nest boxes up for the 3 black-cockatoo species that may use them, it is a waste of time even considering how to monitor them. This works against them as the operations cannot show any mitigation measures for these three threatened species and are sometimes being denied expansion requests on this basis (they've also run out of any local offset areas of any worth to these species).

For the moment, I am concentrating on encouraging semi-arboreal mammal fauna returning to younger rehab and setting up nest-boxes up to 3m above ground (i.e., 1.5m ladder, which is ok, plus my height gives us around 3m).

What I am investigating are passive methods for monitoring boxes. I had considered the use of ibuttons, but calibration is an issue. Cameras are great at passive monitoring but are relatively high maintenance. I did read of a SMART style nest box which could provide a possible answer to my question.

Hi Eddy, thanks for clarifying. I do know some people in my organisation are using 4G remote cameras, that send photos to you whenever they are taken which removes the need to collect SD cards to monitor them and means you can monitor things passively but in real time.

Thanks again Karleah. The area's I work tend to not be covered mobile network. It can also be an extremely expensive option if there are more than a few cameras (especially if you have a wayward leaf setting off the camera every few seconds 😁).

I have used nest box pole cameras. Basically a small camera on a painters pole used to insert inside the cavity entrance. I have checked boxes at monthly checks over several years and my species was not deterred by this. I have some photos of my camera in use in my most recent paper in Forest Ecology and Management journal.

Hi William,

Thanks for your story.

The boxes I install are rarely more than 3m above ground (they are in rehabilitated areas so nothing much higher than 3m for a decade or so). A pole camera would be a bit of overkill for this work, but from what I understand the cameras used in those setups are quite good quality (optics and resolution). I tend to rely on endoscopes for minimal intrusion. The problem is getting high quality equipment that isn't going to cost me the better part of the research budget. I am trialing a whole slew of options from ebay (cheap and cheerful) and have so found one particular product (unbranded) that seems to be better than the others (a wifi version that comes with 1.5m, 2m, 5m semi-rigid cords).

The problem for me is being able to monitor potential use for all those times we are not there poking our endoscopes in the nest box. Having cameras is fine but is not always possible due to the density of vegetation at our sites, i.e., can be very dense and any moving vegetation will set off the cameras. I have considered ibuttons to measure temperature changes but it would be difficult to calibrate to ambient temperature on a 24hr/7day/365 day annual cycle.

I guess I am looking at what others may have considered using in the past. I think I mentioned previously a design for a SMART nest box, although I do think this may be one step too far for the sort of studies we do.

Thanks again.