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Next week is aviary installation day! Have been thinking about adding a security system for peace of mind once my babies are outside. Was researching Nest Cam, but see that you also have to buy a storage package per year. Looking for recommendations as to which system might be my best bet.

Wow! Thanks for all the info! Most appreciative! Right now I'm thinking of having something pointing towards the aviary double doors. My fids will be brought in at night, so night coverage won't be high on my list of needs. I can certainly do Wifi. Must they all run on a power cord, or do some run on lithium batteries? Our outlet is probably 30 feet away, and either we or the dogs would be tripping over the cord. It needs to be outdoor proof and be able to encompass the entire perimeter of the aviary. Want something that isn't known to have annoying 'false alarm' alerts. Speaking of power cords, couldn't someone theoretically unplug and deactivate it before making their way to the aviary? What is a NVR system?

Oh oh...I have done a TON TON TON of research in this area. I am currently running a Foscam FI9826 in their bird room and have been for years. Foscam is chinese as are most of the cameras you can buy. The camera is average, decent, whatever, but my problem with it is accessing the camera offsite. Their software absolutely SUCKS! On their support forum it is nearly a 'set stores on fire, turn over cars' riot situation with users like myself who have spent money on these pieces of shit and they will do nothing to address the issue of accessing their cameras. A camera is pretty useless if you can't access it right? So far their only answer is to use a very outdated version of IE if and until they decide to somehow write an interface for HTML5. They won't because they rip everything off and nothing has come along to steal. Don't buy Foscam. Don't buy their U.S. former counterpart - Amcrest - they have the exact same issue. Nearly all cameras will have this issue with browser support being a moving target I've learned, so while it's not really Foscam/Amcrest's fault that their crap no longer works, they are still selling their cameras under the pretense that you can use a browser, bullshit. I have considered all the usual suspects: D-Link, Nest, AvertX, Q-See, Lorex, Arlo, Samsung, Night Owl... There are just too dang many to really figure it out so I threw myself onto the cctv gods, thankfully. I have learned that the Dahua cams are pretty damned rock solid and very highly trusted among the cctv gurus. Also the issue of accessing them offsite is pretty much solved by running Blue Iris on a machine dedicated to running the software. It has the ability to function as it's own webserver. You can also buy a pre-packaged NVR system too that does the same thing. Do you have cabling to the area? Power or will you need PoE (power over the ethernet cable). Want wireless or wired? Pan/Tilt/Zoom? Do you need it to be 'outdoor' proof? Do you need nighttime IR capabilities (I use my IR all the time)? I can recommend a setup once I know what you're parameters are. It will be one of the Dahua Starlight series as they seem to be the best on the planet right now at consumer pricing.