Hidden pigeons revealed by thermal camera

Juvenile Pigeon in Recovery

Following an alert from a member of the public, staff from Seahaven Bird Rescue rushed to a library in Newhaven (GB) in an attempt to rescue a number of trapped pigeons. However, some of the birds were hidden inside a wall cavity, so an infrared camera was hired from Ashtead Technology in order to investigate the extent of the problem.

The eggs were no longer alive!

After releasing the trapped birds, the rescuers used the hired Flir i60 thermal camera to inspect the cavity and were surprised to find three nests containing eggs, and that the cavity was a lot larger than first thought. The infrared camera also enabled the rescuers to determine that the eggs were no longer alive.

Ashtead Technology’s staff were delighted that the camera had made a significant contribution to the success of the operation. Josh Thomas said: “Our range of infrared cameras is often employed to investigate walls and cavities; this is usually to find areas of water leakage or poor insulation, but we were very happy to be able to help with this unusual application.”

In addition to the assessment of buildings. thermography is also employed for the inspection of vital equipment such as pumps (to check overheated connections and fuse problems), valves (leakage), storage tanks (sludge levels) and conveyor belts (overheating bearings). Motors and other machinery components can also be easily inspected and potential problems quickly identified and resolved.

At the entry level and weighing just 0.58kg, the compact i60 camera represents excellent value for customers wanting a lightweight thermal camera with many of the features found in high-end imaging equipment. Designed for easy, one-handed operation the high-resolution i60 provides a temperature survey range of -20°C to +350°C and is perfect for small-scale industrial applications and building inspections. Because of its size, the i60 is also the ideal choice for inspecting hard-to-reach machinery and equipment while the 1GB memory allows for the storage of around 1,000 images at any one time.

Commenting on the success of the project, Carrie Grace, founder of Seahaven Bird Rescue said, “The i60 arrived self-calibrated, which meant that we just had to turn the camera on, aim and click. We also found that the flashlight on the camera was really useful because our inspection went on late into the evening.
“The thermal camera dramatically improved the effectiveness of our investigation and the ability to hire this technology is a major advantage.”