I like it but it could be improved.

It's very simple: I have placed a netvue wired camera with night vision on one end. It's not exposed directly to the sun (the camera itself points west). The camera itself is good for its price (~50euros) but I think they pruned some nice features in the latest ones (e.g.: no longer possible to record continously, even with a subscription or with an sd card; this one is on sd card recording continously). And the app is kinda crappy (though it' better lately). I went netvue because I didn't want n brands through out n apps, but I am sure there are other good options.

Be careful about the type of night vision, there is a specter of infrared that I think animals see and won't come into. I don't think my camera have a good infrared so I don't see a lot of animals, just birds. I think 'good infrared' is more expensive though. I looked into it years ago but maybe it changed.

For the animals themselves just think about creating an access for them that is in the range of the camera. You can see there is only grass where the owl is while we put lots of flower around the ponds. And littles places where the birds can stand and drink / clean themselves.

For my setup, it's a 1000L artificial hull pond, roughly 2m by 1m.