Happy Owl-oween! Outdoor microphone for listening to bird sounds indoors

October 31, 2015 6:17 AM

My elderly dad would like to listen to bird, owl, and nature sounds that are going on outside of his house from inside the house. Is there an outdoor microphone and indoor receiver (amp? speaker? I'm not quite sure what I am looking for here) system that will do this for him easily?

I think he just wants to turn on a speaker inside his house or use an app on his iPhone, and hear what is going on in his backyard without having to go outside or open the windows. He is not interested in recording the sounds or having video, just listening to the sounds live. I would like to avoid equipment that uses batteries, FM transmitters, or long wires, if possible. Wifi, iPhone apps, Bluetooth connectivity are all a plus. He is in the mid-west, so the outdoor equipment needs to be weather-proof. Thanks!

posted by ohohcyte to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

I have and love these bitty speakers.

They also have a mic built in so maybe paired with an app that triggers the mic to play back through the phone....
posted by tilde at 6:44 AM on October 31, 2015

If you got some sort of small speaker with a hard-wired mic input, you could run the mic cable through a window opening (then close the window on it) and you're done. Put a ziplock bag or something around the microphone outside to keep the water off.

Maybe something like this.
posted by BillMcMurdo at 7:53 AM on October 31, 2015

We used an old baby monitor set on the deck when I was a child.
posted by dahliachewswell at 8:02 AM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]