Our Favorite Seed Feeder
If you’re looking for the best smart bird feeder deal under $150, this is it. It’s not the best-quality camera (1080p photos and 2K video is quite mid these days) or feeder body, which is very lightweight plastic and comes with either yellow or blue accent parts (you can choose), but it’s got a solar panel to keep itself charged, and there’s no subscription required to use it right out of the box. I’ve had no connection issues during my tests, and the app is simple but easy to navigate. The AI ID also has a decent success rate, and it’s easy to fill and set up. If you’re looking for something closer to $100, there are also iterations with no solar panel, no AI ID (you can always post screenshots of unknown birds into Google), or absent both.
The OG
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Screenshot courtesy of Kat Merck
Birdbuddy
Smart Bird Feeder Pro
Birdbuddy (previously styled Bird Buddy) was the first-ever smart bird feeder, launched in 2020. We reviewed it in 2023, and I reviewed this updated model last year, giving it props for its feature-filled app; reliable, built-in solar panel; and availability of add-ons that are easy to screw right into the perch. It’s a well-engineered feeder that’s easy to use right out of the box, with what I think is the most user-friendly app on the market. More features seem to be hidden behind a paywall with the latest update, which I don’t like, and all Birdbuddys have a sensor whose purpose is to filter out “less interesting” events and only show you noteworthy visits. This is an admirable goal, as it does get tiring to have to sort through 30 images of the same junco or sparrow, but the result is that it misses a sizable portion of visits, even ones that are interesting. This is the only downside, though, as well as the fact there’s an even newer model that’s just $50 more right now, the Birdbuddy 2, which features a camera you can rotate and dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity.
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