After testing smart bird feeders year-round for WIRED for almost two years, I’ve discovered many things I don’t like: models that consist of a basic security camera—and a security camera app—in a generic smart feeder shell. The ability to only collect still photos without paying for a yearly subscription. No indication of a required subscription in the online description or on the box. AI identification that seems calibrated to other countries. Solar charging panels that don’t work. There are a lot of smart bird feeders out there, and many are great, but if you aren’t familiar with them, it’s not always easy to tell what features are worth paying attention to.
Buying an unresearched smart feeder on Amazon can be dicey, as many companies will pay users to post a positive review or retract negative reviews. In my guide to the Best Smart Bird Feeders, I only feature feeders I have personally used in my own yard for at least four weeks and find easy to use right out of the box, reliable, fun, and a good value—models I would buy myself or give as a gift.
I was happy to see that a few of my favorites are included in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale (now through March 31), including the fun Birdfy Bath Pro, which I’m currently retesting after some early connection failures, and the new-to-me Birdfy Nest Duo smart birdhouse. Note that while this is the best time of year to enjoy a bird feeder, these prices aren’t the best you’ll find all year—if you’re only buying for a deal, I’d still wait for Prime Day or Black Friday.
The OG
This isn’t too far off from the price Birdfy’s original feeder sits at a lot of the year, but this is peak bird-feeding time, so if you want to ensure you’ll get lots of action, the time to buy is now. This is always the smart feeder I recommend for having the best performance and features for the lowest price. It’s easy to set up and fill; connectivity and reliability are solid; and while the app isn’t the most advanced, especially if you don’t have the subscription, it will show you every capture, so you can ensure you’re not missing any visits.
I recommend springing for the version with the solar panel, as bringing it inside to charge every couple of weeks gets old fast. The panel not being built into the roof is not ideal, but it does include hardware to mount it to a pole, if that’s how you like to site your feeders (and it should be, if you’re looking to avoid squirrels). The on-sale version doesn’t come with lifetime AI recognition, but it’s still perfectly usable without. For me, AI ID is a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have—it’s easy enough to just take a screenshot of a bird you don’t know and paste it into Google Lens. For this model, you can choose from either a yellow or blue roof. Wall-, pole-, or tree-mount only. Skip if: You want to hang your smart feeder; you need a sturdier material like thicker plastic or metal; you need to use 5-GHz Wi-Fi; you want photo quality beyond 1080p.
A Level Up
Kiwibit’s newly retitled Bird Feeder 2 (formerly the Beako) is an extremely sturdy, well-engineered unit that has been a reliable presence in my long-term testing. If you know you like using a smart bird feeder and are ready for an upgrade in photo and video quality, Kiwibit offers some of the best you’ll find (8 MP and 4K, respectively). The solar panel built into the roof also does a great job of keeping the 5200-mAh battery charged, even in cloudy weather. The generously sized (1.5-liter) dual-feed seed hopper can be lifted out for filling, which is much easier than taking down the whole feeder.
Read the full article here