There's a new reality show in town and it's got everything: sex, sibling rivalry, exotic locales and sometimes tragedy. And birds. Lots of birds.

If spying on a family of bald eagles, barn owls or purple martins sounds like a lot more fun than Real Housewives, you'll love the world of online nestcams. These small remote surveillance cameras installed near or in bird nests and broadcast over the Internet are blowing the lid off the secret lives of birds to the thrill of voyeuristic birders everywhere.

As long as your computer is reasonably fast (i.e., no more than two or three years old), you can watch real-time live streaming video of birds in every corner of the world build nests, lay and incubate eggs and raise young. See peregrine falcons feed their fluffy chicks on a London skyscraper, a baby hummingbird fledge in Maine, and a stork patiently incubating her eggs on a rooftop in Germany. The variety of species is endless.

In recent years hundreds of nestcams have come online. Some were established for scientific purposes, but most are set up and maintained by individuals, corporations, wildlife organizations, universities or community groups simply for public enjoyment. The cameras are already in place when the parent birds choose the nesting site, so filming is not intrusive. The picture quality varies widely, with some cams still black and white but most now provide real-time color video with sound.

Nestcam viewers get to see more intimate details than the most skilled birder could ever witness in the field. Some parents raise more than one brood, ensuring months of interesting viewing. Nestcams also provide fascinating glimpses of the surrounding forests, meadows and cityscapes in parts of the world you might never visit.

If you've missed an episode – er, breeding cycle - most nestcam sites provide archived footage, blogs, still photos and background information on the species to bring you up-to-date. Some dedicated volunteers blog hourly about goings on at the nest from sunrise to sunset so you don't miss any of the action. Often there's a chat room so you can share what you're seeing with other visitors.

Like any good reality show, nestcams can be addictive. But unlike TV, the action is 100 percent real-time and authentic. You should be prepared for occasional gore or the unhappy ending. Raptors such as eagles and falcons tear apart prey for their chicks. Young birds sometimes get trampled or shoved out of the nest.

Even during breeding season nestcams are not always operational because of equipment failure or nest abandonment, but to save you the trouble of sifting through all the broadcasts out there, ParrotChronicles.com has come up with a list of pretty reliable sites. At the end of May 2011 the following nests were still active – but don’t wait too long to visit, because birds grow up fast!

For a wide choice of species in one place, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers 11 live feeds. We recommend seabirds of Alaska, Pacific Loon and the barn owl tenderly caring for her naked hatchlings.

Alpine swift
Freiburg, Germany
The picture is black and white and there's no sound, but this might be the only alpine swift nestcam out there, and the parents are either still incubating eggs or sitting on new hatchlings, so there's lots of interesting video to come if you enjoy watching these small birds.

Bald eagles
Nesting season is almost over but you can still catch some near-grown eagles hanging with mom and dad.

• Hancock Wildlife Foundation, Boundary Bay, Surrey, British Columbia, White Rock bluff. This is the best bald eagle nestcam we found. It has two cameras, one a closeup of the two babies and the other a wide angle view of the nest high in a tree, usually with a parent sitting nearby. The picture is sharp, includes sound, and the view is beautiful.
• Hancock Wildlife Foundation, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. The three curious chicks are growing in flight feathers.
• Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada.This nest, 120 feet off the ground in a Douglas fir tree, has been occupied by the same eagle couple for the last 20 years, and is believed to be one of the first "eagle cams" to go online, in 2006.
• Institute for Wildlife Studies, California. Monitor three bald eagle nests on your screen simultaneously, two on Santa Catalina Island and one on Santa Cruz Island.

Channel Island Allen's Hummingbird, California
Meet Phoebe, the Orange County hummingbird whose latest clutch is due to hatch June 9. Beautiful live, sharp, color broadcast.

Common loon, central Minnesota.
Great live feed of a loon nest with two pretty green eggs. Watch the parents take breaks from incubating by going for a dip in the lake. Soon, chicks!

Eurasian oystercatcher, Bergen, Norway.
The parents have moved the chicks to another part of the roof but we had to recommend this one anyway, just in case they come back, because the action was excellent. Oystercatchers have been encouraged to breed on flat rooftops in Bergen for the last five years with great success.

Great blue heron, Seattle, Wash.
Catch some great live video of these regal birds regurgitating a snack for their gangly chicks.

Imperial eagle, Parcque Nacional de Cabaneros, Spain.
The sounds of the rainforest and the sight of the air swarming with insects make this nestcam interesting. Too bad the nest is not closer or more centered.

Marsh harrier, Wensum Valley, Norfolk, England, Sculthorpe Moor Community Nature Reserve.
Peer through reeds to see doting parents with several fluffy white chicks. Streaming isn't perfect but close enough.

Northern goshawk, New Forest, Hampshire, England
Click on Silverlight or Windows Media Player to start the broadcast. Two big fluffy nestlings wait for mom or dad to bring a snack.

Ospreys
Osprey breeding season is in full swing, with many birds still incubating eggs, promising lots of great viewing to come.

• Dunedin, Fla.
  No sound, but great view of a nest located high over a golf course. These chicks are almost fully feathered.
• Fairfield, Ct.
  There's no sound and the video's a little jerky but the picture is huge, making the newly hatched chicks worth seeing.
• Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich.
  The great closeup view of new chicks compensates for slightly jerky video.
• Hailuoto in Marjaniemi, Finland.
  This soundless nestcam updates every few seconds instead of in a continuous seamless stream, but it's still worth a visit for the excellent vantage point.
• Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve, Dunkeld, Scotland
  Click on Cam1 to see a great close-up of a tightly knit osprey family.
• Lyndon Reserve, England.
  Click on Nestcam window

Peregrine falcons

• Great River Energy's Elk River Energy Recovery Station, Minnesota.
  Small window and no sound, but great picture of parents incubating eggs, due to hatch June 18.
• Nottingham, England.
  The chicks have gotten big enough to wander out of camera range so sometimes we encountered an empty nest box. But when the younguns are home and being fed it's fascinating cinema. (Watch out for scattered pigeon parts.)
• Sussex Heights, Brighton, England.
  This nestbox was installed 13 years ago, 334 feet above the ground atop an apartment building. The current crop of chicks have gotten so big mom has a hard time keeping them warm but she tries!
• Xcel Energy Sherco Plant, Becker, Minn.
  Click on View the King Falcon Cam or Sherco Falcom Cam. Small window and no sound, but both cams are pointed at some pretty cute falcon chicks in nest boxes. The Sherco cam has the better picture.

Purple martin colony, Lake Ontario, Rochester, N.Y.
The view alternates between the colony and inside a nest gourd.

Verreaux’s Eagle, Roodekrans, South Africa
There's no sound and the nest is hard to see, but the rocky outcropping and nearby waterfall make this cam unique.

White stork

• Bayern, Germany
  Click on Live to see smooth video of a stork family with two chicks against a picturesque background of red-tile rooftops. No sound, but the birds are visible at night, a plus.
• Bad Waldsee, Germany.This is a time lapse cam, which means you have to be patient but the viewing window is huge, showing a big nest, birds close up and a pretty town below.
• Plinkout, Czech Republic
  The action is a little jerky but you get a big window view of the parent tending several very young chicks. This nest is also visible at night.

White-breasted nuthatches, Pennsylvania
This live broadcast comes from inside a hole 30 feet up an oak tree. Almost as big as mom, these babies are nearly ready to go.

Wood duck, Smithville, N.C.
This cam is a bit dark but the doting ducks spend a lot of time tenderly turning their eggs and rearranging the nest. Soon there should be lots of chicks to watch. Fun!

Nestcam watching tips

• Dark screen? Check the time. It might be night in the nestcam's part of the world. Unless it's an owl cam (when night hours offer the best viewing), check back in the evening when day is dawning on the other side of the globe.
• Don't hog the bandwidth. Many nestcams can accommodate only a handful of people watching over the Internet at one time. After checking the nest for a few minutes, leave the page so others can have a turn.
• Streaming video takes computer oomph. Your computer will need to be no more than a few years old, with a good graphics card, in order for videos to run without starting and stopping. Depending on the site you might have to download and install a special software plug-in such as the latest version of Java, Flash or Microsoft Silverlight.
• Ads pay for cams. Many nestcams require watching a 15- or 30-second commercial first. However, you don't have to live with the popup ads; just click on the "X" to close them. Nestcams can be expensive to maintain, so consider making a donation for the common good.
• See more. Click on the window icon in the bottom right of the nestcam or doubleclick to enlarge the video to fill your entire screen. The picture won't be as sharp but it will be a lot bigger.