ewsba.se
Hard to believe, but smart bird feeders have been around for six years.
The idea started with Birdbuddy (then styled Bird Buddy), which launched a Kickstarter campaign in November 2020 for the world’s first app-connected, AI-powered smart bird feeder. Birdfy followed in 2021 with its first camera-equipped feeder, and today the two companies remain the most popular brands in the smart bird-feeder space, with a sizable catalog of offerings, including smart bird baths and smart nesting boxes.
Thanks to two new releases from Birdfy and Birdbuddy, you can now get a premium smart bird feeder experience for under $100—something that just a year or two ago would have cost $200 or more.
I tested both Birdfy’s Rookie and Birdbuddy’s Nook in my backyard for four weeks each, noting annoyances, especially helpful features, and which features were available without a subscription.
While both have a significant number of pluses and minuses, Birdbuddy’s Nook, despite costing $20 more and failing to capture every visit, came out just slightly ahead due to its more premium hardware experience.
Released in October of last year, Birdfy’s Rookie was positioned as a smart feeder for beginners, with USB-C charging only, no solar (though you can buy a more expensive model that has it), and no complicated assembly process. It functions basically as a lightweight gravity pet feeder with a 1.3-liter seed capacity and a camera on the side—just snap the three main pieces together, charge the camera, and you’re good to go. It can only be pole- or wall-mounted, not hung.
While I loved the simplicity of the Rookie and appreciated that it uses the same excellent app as the pricier Birdfy feeders, the 1080p camera’s picture quality was noticeably lower than the Nook’s, and while it did capture every bird that visited, there were also plenty of false-alarm motion detections.
I also found some significant drawbacks to the design over my four-week test. First, though the feeder itself is IP66 rated for water resistance, there’s no overhang on the roof, which means water is going to get into the seed if it rains (as it did off and on throughout my testing period).
Second, the lid just sits loosely on the top, so it kept blowing off whenever there was a big gust of wind. And third, perhaps most frustratingly, because the camera is on the side, it didn’t do the greatest job capturing larger birds, though the camera lens stayed relatively clean, being farther away from the action, and small-bird shots were well framed. Birdfy advertises the battery charge as lasting seven weeks, but my test unit lasted less than two.
One big advantage the Rookie has, however, is its seed capacity. At 1.3 liters, it’s only slightly less voluminous than Birdfy’s popular original feeder, which packs 1.5 liters. (Though note that this still pales in comparison to Birdfy’s Bamboo feeder, a top pick in our guide to the Best Smart Bird Feeders, which holds 3.5 liters.)
Feeder capacity aside, Birdfy’s app is well designed and simple, and it makes it easy to see which birds visited that day. You can even watch your feeder on TV if you have Roku—the Birdfy app is available on devices running Roku OS 15.1 or higher. Best of all, as of November 1, Birdfy offers unlimited automatic AI-based identification without a subscription, which is a rarity among smart bird feeders. Birdfy’s ID is pretty decent, with nearly no mistakes during my test.
If you want to spring for more storage or longer video recording (free tier is limited to 5 GB and 20 seconds), you can opt for Birdfy Plus for $80/year or Birdfy Pro for $150/year.
Birdbuddy’s Nook launched in late October this year and is also aimed at beginners and budget-conscious shoppers. It looks a lot like Birdbuddy’s flagship Home (previously the 2 Pro), just smaller and squatter. It has the same thick plastic construction with a roof to keep out rain, but the Nook’s hinged lid makes filling a breeze. (Note that the $99 version does not come with the extended perch or solar roof, as pictured.)
Like the Home, the camera is a half-sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball that pops in and out with a magnet; you can position it vertically or horizontally depending on which style of photos you prefer. My test unit came with the solar panel, so I was not able to test the battery life of the camera, but know that the Nook’s battery only delivers 3,900 mAh compared to the Rookie’s 5,200 mAh.
The Nook shoots in 2K HDR, resulting in noticeably crisper imagery and sound. Unlike the Rookie’s side camera, the Nook’s is centered on the feeder—which makes for better full-bird shots, but its close proximity means it tends to get dirtier and smudged more easily than the Rookie’s side camera. I was also surprised by how fast the seed disappeared—within a day in some cases. Birdbuddy states that its seed hopper holds 0.9 liters, or 3.8 cups, which is only slightly less than the Rookie, but the difference in empty rates was noticeable.
My test unit also came with the optional Extended Perch for bigger birds like Steller’s jays and crows, though the big birds in my yard have always managed to find a way to visit the Birdbuddy Home, which has Birdbuddy’s usual tiny perch, so I’m not entirely convinced this is worth the extra $40. However, I do like that I can hang the IP67-rated Nook, especially since its pole-mount option doesn’t have a fastener. This means it tends to swing around when it’s mounted on a 1-inch-diameter pole, especially when larger birds land and take off.
Birdbuddy’s strength has always been its app, which remains easy to use and presents a library of shareable photos from each bird visit, though its interface is quickly being bested by newer brands like Kiwibit and even Birdfy, which just began offering AI ID for free with all its feeders. (Birdbuddy’s app also offers free AI ID, which is excellent, but you have to manually engage it for each photo, making it harder to see at a glance which species visited that day.)
Birdbuddy cameras have also historically struggled to capture all bird visits, and while the Nook was advertised to have a faster wake time, it still missed many bird visits I saw, though I did notice more captures than previous models, with no false alarms.
One new feature of the Birdbuddy app—and one I have not seen before—is the ability to ID other birds from sounds in the background, à la Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Merlin ID app. It currently states it’s a “free preview,” though, so I suspect it will ultimately be locked behind a subscription tier. Still, I found it to be a neat complement to the Nook’s superior onboard microphone. Other features requiring a subscription (Birdbuddy Premium for $70/year or Birdbuddy Family for $99/year) include Ultra resolution, guest access to the livestream, and the ability to name individual birds.
If you’re looking to spend under $100, the Rookie is a perfectly respectable smart bird feeder, with excellent free AI ID. However, if you want the whole package, I have to give the edge to the Nook. It won’t show you every bird that visits, which is disappointing, but you’ll get great shots of the ones that do, and its sturdy housing and versatile camera make it a great value that will hold up well in inclement weather.