How can I hide an outdoor security camera?

Some sculpture of a dog, cat or a Cyclops, with the eyes being cameras.

Or you could try James May’s Idea

Oooo…. This is my specialty.
Let’s assume you have multiple cameras with internal near IR illumination for night viewiong at zero lux.
Smart guys (the top 3 -5%) have learned to look for the near-IR signature of commercial cameras and know how to find and avoid them. they can drive by in a neighborhood and readily locate the houses with NIR radiation. I disguise my cameras in plain sight. At least one camera with the IR turned on is located right out in the open. It is easy to find and dissuades the dumb guys. But I put a second camera somewhere else with the NIR turned off so it is totally passive. I use the illumination of the first camera as the source for the second camera. It might be in your barbecue grill or the reese receiver towing hitch on the truck…or…. anywhere.
I never install just 2 there might be 8 or 12 with 4 that visible. That way the guy thinks you bought a set of 4. The other 8 would be in places that are out of reach and are invisible but are looking at the areas illuminated by the 4 sacrifice units. I set the alarm to go off if any of the 4 sacrifice units are lost.

Also remember Bluetooth is limited by walls and materials between transmitters and receivers. 100 Meters for Class 1 is “open air”.

Hey, be sure and have a fake in a highly visible location. Or WTH why fake it, make it a real one with a hidden one elsewhere.

My neighbor had a garden feature with a bird seed feeder and the camera was in the birdseed feeder.

Wow, @LuckyGuy. You never know what motherlode of expertise some random question is going to expose. I’m impressed.

Plant or in your eaves, or fascia, anywhere if they’re the small ones.

A pink plastic flamingo lawn ornament as the outer casing?

@ragingloli You just want to take care that the Cat Cops don’t eat Lieutenant Pigeon.

I just reread my last comment and am embarrassed at the poor quality. I was typing quickly and left out some words but you get the idea.
I always try to make a set-up that leaves the smart guys confident their equipment and “mad skilz” will beat the system. I never use dummy cameras. They take almost as much time to set up as the real thing and are not worth the trouble. Also nobody competent is tricked by the idiot flashing light. The real thing is not that much more expensive. My guys do an install with 4 real, IR equipped cameras that look (and are) very professional. Those are the ones I want Mad Skilz to find. The others are the big guns that pull in the HD quality with views anywhere from ground to just over eye level. Every camera is placed to be in view of another camera.
Depending upon the cooperation of the business owners I’ve even swapped one or two cameras with a neighboring business owner, e.g. 2 of his 12 cameras are recording the activity at his neighbor’s place and vice versa. It acts as backup and improves communication. They like that.

@LuckyGuy Thanks for two great answers. I tested the range of the motion sensor on the outdoor floods. It doesn’t see far enough to protect anything more than the small back porch, so letting it be the trigger is out. Of course, it is on the AC mains, so I have power there. I also have a stand-up basement under us, so poking a line through here or there is no biggie. And since I can’t rely on light from the motion detecting floods, it sounds like your strategy of using a visible camera to “light up” the area and hidden ones to actually watch is top rate. I just have to have something in software to detect motion and open the popup window on my computer. You’ve really helped me develop a clear picture of what will work.

@Tropical_Willie As it’s developing, I may be better off running cable through the basement for the signal. But if I do go Bluetooth, it’s legal to boost it to a max of 1 Kilometer free air.

@rojo I completely concur. Why go dummy camera with no IR emission signature to deter the smarter crooks. Make it a real camera, it’s just not the one you’re actually watching the miscreants with.

@antimatter That would look perfectly logical in our back yard, and another can go in the front. On the side yard, all the utilities have their meters. There are meter box enclosures that make great hiding places for cameras.

@Jeruba Isn’t it the truth.

@KNOWITALL Um. Good idea. Can’t be a plant here in Massachusetts though unless it is an evergreen.

@gailcalled I love flamingoes. In fact, I love all birds. But only living breathing ones. Plastic ones will not grace my non-AstroTurf lawn.

Look at Yawcam for the motion sensing. It has a nice test display that lets you can see and calibrate exactly what the motion sensing will see.

Some of the units I use split the frame in to 150 target subframes. (10×15.) Each sub-frame can be ignored or read so you can select areas to be avoided such as, the narrow band that corresponds to a road with cars passing in the background, or the sky and lightning, or bird feeders or the owner’s dog run.

ETpro: Their value is in their unexpectedness…planted perhaps next to an aromatic antique Bourbon rose or a bush laden with raspberries. (Note the color coordination, too.)

For example.

@LuckyGuy I appreciate the Yawcam recommendation. I do have a nearby street andn sidewalk I need to null out.

@gailcalled Is there a camera in there? I see something that looks man-made, but can’t make out what it is.

^^^, No, but there could be since flamingos match the rose on the right.

@gailcalled Those are gorgeous! Quite an accomplishment!

@ETpro See the 7th rose from the left? That is the “gimme cam” (the easy one to find).
The PTZ passive IR cam is hidden in the cluster of leaves next to the trumpet vine – at the neighbor’s house. ;-)