Bird Buddy brings smart home technology to one of the oldest pastimes This smart feeder takes photos and videos of every bird that lands on the device, so you can have a digital record of every bird that visits your yard

In addition, Bird Buddy identifies each bird and tells you a lot of information about it so you can learn more about your feathered friend Additionally, there is no subscription fee, so the only recurring cost you have to pay is bird seed The rest of my Bird Buddy review will let you know why I think this is the best smart bird feeder around - although there isn't much there

The Bird Buddy looks like a small birdhouse with a sloping roof on both sides The body is made of translucent plastic and allows you to see the amount of bird food in the feeder At the bottom is a small tray into which the bird food flows by gravity The roof of the feeder protrudes slightly from the front to keep the birds dry

The only thing I didn't like about the Bird Buddy's design is the latch for putting more seed in the feeder It is a triangular door at the rear of the top and is very small, making it nearly impossible to add seed without using the cups provided Still, the design of the feeder and cups does not allow for easy pouring of the entire contents into the feeder; the BirdKiss is a bit easier, with the entire roof hinged open to allow seed to be added

However, we like that the Bird Buddy's solar panels are built directly into the roof

The Bird Buddy comes with a pole mount that screws into the bottom of the feeder I had to use duct tape to keep the feeder from wobbling after I installed it

Bird Buddy started as a Kickstarter project in 2022 and was widely available at the end of the year The basic Bird Buddy costs $199 and includes everything you need, including a bird feeder, a camera, and a small water bottle to fill the feeder with bird food; it can only be purchased through the Bird Buddy website, where it can be found on the Bird Buddy website, and is also available for purchase on the Bird Buddy website

The Bird Buddy with Solar Roof is $269, and as you might expect, this model has a solar panel on the roof, eliminating the need to manually charge the camera; the Pro bundle ($336) includes a wall mount, water bottle, and a small water bottle to hold the bird feeder, suetball holder will be added If you want to add accessories later, you can purchase each add-on separately

This is a higher initial cost than the BirdKiss, which costs $229 for the model with solar panels However, to take full advantage of BirdKiss and store videos of your feathered visitors, you must pay a subscription plan starting at $299 per month; BirdBuddy currently does not charge to store videos in the cloud

I found the photos taken by Bird Buddy to be generally excellent Likewise, the videos recorded by BirdBuddy were excellent I just wish they had recorded audio as well, and I wish Bird Buddy's roof was not visible

I also noticed that Bird Buddy does not catch every bird that comes to the feeder One morning I happened to look outside and saw a male and female cardinal eating seed at the same time

If you want to see the birds feeding in real time, you can turn on live view from the camera, but this feature does not work well It took so long to activate live view that I thought the application had frozen Also, when using live view, the camera does not record video or take pictures, so there is no permanent record of the visitor BirdKiss is similar to a traditional security camera, so it starts up much faster and records sound

The BirdKiss app is essentially a security camera app with bird detection added, but the Bird Buddy app is more focused because it was built from the ground up with one specific purpose in mind [When a bird stops at the feeder, the Bird Buddy app sends you a notification After the bird leaves, the Bird Buddy app collects the photos and videos taken by the bird and sends them to you in the app After the bird leaves, the Bird Buddy app collects the photos and videos the bird took and sends them to you in the app You can then choose to save them to your own private collection or share them with the Bird Buddy community

If you choose the latter option, your videos and photos will be visible to all Bird Buddy owners In the app, a small TV-like icon displays a selection of videos from Bird Buddy feeders whose owners have published videos This is somewhat random, identified only by the respective city - it allows you to see birds from all over the world - but if you choose to publish your video, make sure that the background of the video does not show anything too revealing or personal6]

The Collections tab of the app will show you all the bird species that have visited your feeders In the week I tested Bird Buddy, Cardinal visited most frequently, along with House Sparrow and Squirrel I had only four species of birds perching on my feeders, and Bird Buddy correctly identified them all

Click on a particular bird's card to see a gallery of all the photos and videos I saved Scroll down to see more detailed information about the bird, including its size, characteristics, range, and how many times it has visited the feeder You can also listen to the calls each bird makes

Bird Buddy's battery lasted about a week on a charge; the time will vary depending on the number of birds that appear at the feeder and how often you use the live view The app warns when the battery is low, but we recommend purchasing a solar panel roof to avoid the hassle of manually recharging the battery

Bird Buddy is the first smart bird feeder on the market, and the company really got most everything right It takes great photos and videos and displays them in a fun and creative way, as well as information about the birds In addition, Bird Buddy does not charge a subscription for its service, making it less expensive to use in the long run than BirdKiss I wish Bird Buddy was easier to record and fill with audio along with video, but those are minor complaints of an otherwise great product