This feeder also comes with extra plastic flowers and a little brush for scrubbing them, and the app sends reminders when it’s time to clean. You’ll find fun, seasonal touches in the app, like the ability to send digital bird holiday cards with the photos your feeder captures, and a tool that superimposes hats, clothes, and various accessories on the birds, which is actually funnier than it sounds. However, as with the Birdbuddy Pro seed feeder, below, the big downside is that the feeder’s sensor doesn’t always pick up every bird that visits, which can definitely be a bummer when you see something interesting out the window but it doesn’t show up in the app.
Best Smart Birdhouse
After experiencing another round of connection issues with the Birdfy Polygon (see below), I swapped it out for the newer Birdfy Duo and have had no issues. The sleek, contemporary Duo is a fir box fitted with two cameras—one facing the hole and one tucked discreetly inside the feeder, so you can get a full-spectrum view of what’s going on. Both cameras have night vision (the internal one is infrared). Like the Polygon, the Duo sports a remote for rebooting and recharging the camera (though the separate solar panel, which can be pole-mounted, has kept the cameras reliably charged), as well as different-size holes for different species, each with its own chew-proof predator guard.
There’s a metal grate with drainage holes that you can slot into grooves in the lower third of the Nest to make the cavity larger or smaller. The interested birds of my yard seemed very put off by the grate, so I covered it with a layer of moss, which was a success—a chickadee promptly moved in and laid seven eggs, which all hatched. This was the first time I’ve had an occasion to use the Birdfly app’s ability to collect images and string them together in a “story” that’s shareable online, but I didn’t find it especially useful or accurate. No matter, though, because the video captures have been a truly fascinating and educational experience, and I wish I could afford to buy the Duo for everyone I know.
So far, the Duo has been rained on a bunch and survived a couple of heat waves, but I can tell the wood will need refinishing after this season. (The feeder comes equipped with a thermometer and hygrometer, so you can keep an eye on conditions. I recently had to zip-tie an umbrella to mine during a heat wave, which likely saved some fledglings’ lives.)
Smart Bird Feeder With the Best App
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Screenshot courtesy of Kat Merck
Birdbuddy
Smart Bird Feeder Pro
WIRED
- Fun and feature-rich app
- Built-in solar panel works great
TIRED
- Camera doesn’t always capture all birds
Birdbuddy’s Pro model sports a snazzy HDR camera that can also shoot 2K video with slow-motion capability. In addition to having a visibly larger and more advanced lens than the original Burdbuddy, the camera’s now got a larger focus range, 122-degree field of view, and high-fidelity microphone. (A subscription to Birdbuddy Premium for $70 a year unlocks 2K Ultra with a higher video bit rate, allowing for richer colors, sharper images, and less background noise—plus the ability to set alerts for sick or injured birds, among other things—but it’s perfectly usable without this. )
The photos aren’t nearly as impressive as those by competitors like the Birdfy Pro Duo, Camojojo Hibird, or Kiwibit, and the camera, frustratingly, only captures a small portion of the birds that actually visit. However, Birdbuddy’s app is a consistent standout, with a user-friendly design and plenty of helpful alerts, like if a cat is detected nearby, or if it’s time to clean the feeder.
It also serves up insights gathered over time, like what time certain species seem to prefer to visit. (Finches apparently like to visit my yard at 10 am daily.), and there are unique seasonal features like the ability to send holiday cards or “dress up” visiting birds with hats, glasses, and sweaters. Both Birdbuddys work with 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi only.