I made the mistake of leaving a stepladder on my porch after doing some outside house-work.
Before I stored the 6-ft stepladder, a robin built a nest on the top. I have taken the high road, and for as long as this works, here is the nest, live, daylight hours only, probably:
I am having trouble with the WiFi connection to the Dropcam (Dropcams want to be within 15 ft of the router, and this one is 20 ft), so I’m not sure this will work. I’ll keep it going for as long as I can.
Right now, we have 4 eggs and some anxious parents, but nothing else.
Yeah, I thought so, too. Did you try the link in Post #3? I think that should work, unless you’re on dialup. It does seem to take a few seconds to get going sometimes.
Someone said I would soon be a proud dad, but my only contribution was a stepladder. Would that make me a step dad?
Actually, the “Nest Cam” is the name Dropcam calls their system, now that Google bought them out. They’re promoting a series of home-control systems like thermostats, and Dropcam has become Nest.
I’ve done about as much as I can to get the WiFi link to work – added a 10 ft extension to a hi-gain antenna and tried some re-positioning, but it still sometimes disconnects. The signal has to go thru a wooden door, and even 2 bars out of 4 isn’t strong enough, apparently.
The fourth egg was laid 3 days ago, and the parents have been doing a lot of sitting since.
One robin – maybe not one of the pair, I don’t know – has had several bouts with my picture windows on the other side of the house. He/she flies up from the ground and crashes into the window, then does it again. Either it’s trying to fly thru the house or sees a threat. The windows reflect the lake and I’ve had birds break their necks trying to pass thru the house.
Either that’s my neighbor’s music, or perhaps it’s picking up a movie I was watching inside the house.
I hear cars going by sometimes. Right now, the lake (on the other side of the house) is calm, but if the waves pick up, I’m sure the lake will drown out any cheeping, but I can hear some tweets now (maybe not from the nest?). That cam mic sure is sensitive.
I’m a little worried about the ladder. It’s just leaning against the wall, and if anyone bumps it, the cradle will fall. It was never intended to be anchored, but I’m afraid if I try some kind of anchor (maybe a bungee cord to some hooks?), I might disturb it too much. At least it’s sheltered, under a roof, so overhead predators can’t see it and the rain won’t get to it.
I know cats can climb ladders, but we have only one cat in the neighborhood and not close-by. We have foxes, and red foxes are quite un-intimidated by humans. I wonder if foxes can climb ladders?
I just Googled and there are fox repellents you can buy. I wouldn’t do it close to the nest in case it affects birds, but maybe do something around the yard? Just a thought.
