Camera installed inside bird boxes shows daily life of birds

After installing around 1,500 bird boxes in the Algarve, environmental association Vita Nativa has unveiled an online bird life ‘Big Brother’.

“After several months of preparation including the installation of surveillance cameras inside the bird boxes, the moment has arrived when we share with society the daily life of various bird species,” the association said.

Vita Nativa was hopeful that “at least one of the bird boxes with a camera” would be occupied. “And it happened,” it revealed. “At the start of March, a couple of spotless starlings made one of the boxes their home and started building their nest.”

A website with live 24/7 footage was launched last week, showing this particular bird box and where the female had laid its eggs.

Since then, the eggs have hatched and if you’re lucky, and patient enough, you can catch a glimpse of the chicks nestled inside the box.

The project ‘Alojamento Local Para Aves’ won the ‘Orçamento Participativo Nacional de 2018’ – a nation-wide people’s budget allowing citizens to pitch and vote for their own projects – and is in the second year of its implementation. It is being developed by Vita Nativa and the Institute of Nature and Forest Conservation.

Out of the 600 bird boxes monitored in 2021, around 40% were occupied by one or more species of birds, while around 1,000 offspring were born inside them, the association added.

By Michael Bruxo
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