SEATTLE — "I'm Steve and this is The Peep Show."
Despite that name, Seattleite Steve Gray's invention is wholesome.
The Peep Show is a birdhouse that lets you move in with your backyard birds thanks to a home security camera inside.
Hanging out in the nest is addictive.
"When I was testing these units, it just sounds ridiculous," Gray said. "But the first thing I would do in the morning is I would turn on my phone and check on my baby chicks."
He credits his 95-year-old dad who lives in Fairbanks, Alaska with inspiring his invention.
"In Alaska, birds and the arrival of birds in spring is a big deal," Gray said. "And so we always had birdhouses. One year Dad wanted to see inside of a birdhouse and I mean he really wanted to see inside of a birdhouse. You give an Alaskan roll of duct tape and a glue gun and a weekend and they can do anything."
Gray's dad built a crude prototype using a sewer line camera and a co-axial cable that ran to the house, and they watched birds. Gray's version of the same concept is a sleek, egg-shaped house, partially designed by an aerospace engineer - Gray's brother. "Guess who I had do the ventilation system on the peep show? A true rocket scientist!," he said.
Gray took his birdhouse to the TV show "Shark Tank" - and the Sharks rejected it - said it was 'for the birds.' But bird lovers flocked to buy them - now Gray's Seattle home is a mini factory with laser cutters and 3D printers running 24/7, making these birdhouses out of sustainable, long lasting materials.
Gray's even got a Peep Show stationed in his neighborhood where anyone can scan the QR code - and see inside.
Ironically, Gray was not a birdwatcher before building his birdhouse. Now, thanks to The Peep Show, all of his feathered friends are family.
"You fall in love with these little baby birds," Gray said. "You watch them hatch, you watch them grow, and then one day they just leave the nest and it's a sad day. But at least I felt good knowing that I had given a very safe and secure home for these five, six or seven little chicks and they're maybe flying around here today."
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