by Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder with Camera – AI Identifies Birds Species 2MP Night Vision & App Alerts, 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi Connect IP65 Weatherproof Bird Camera-Gift for Backyard BirdWatchers, Blue

We bought this feedercam as a combined Mothers'/Fathers' Day present to ourselves. We love it and the photo/video quality exceeds our expectations when we bought it. It's attractive to look at, mounts easily to a variety of surfaces, has a large seed hopper so you don't have to take it down. We had to get the additional hockey mask-looking screen for the front because of squirrels and doves suctioning down the food like at our other feeders. The doves still stuck their heads in until I took off the plastic perch. I mounted it about 8 feet up on a strong pole with a squirrel baffle, and the squirrels have not yet gotten to it because our older feeders remain accessible to them. It's entertaining to see doves try to get to the seed, which they can do if they hang sideways or upside down to get to it. No more crowds of jostling doves sucking down expensive seed. We were concerned about blocking larger birds we like, such as blue jays, but at least some have figured out how to hang on the mesh and stick their heads in. Other notes: Pretty easy to maintain so far. The roof easily folds forward to all refilling of the hopper. The entire unit hangs on the mount, so all you have to do is lift it off the mount to take it down. One thing to keep in mind is that the camera has a very wide angle of view and is always on. It will record any movement in the background, so you need to think about where you can put it that is not able to see the neighbors or you might get reported, or at least get negative comments from them. If you do a lot of sunbathing or other activities with minimal clothing, you might get videos of that as well. Re: the AI, it has been pretty reasonable in IDing our routine birds, which is pretty much all we have during the summer. Looking forward to the fall migration to see what it picks up. Our only issue I've noticed with the ID is actually not unexpected. We live in a crossover area for tufted and black-crested titmice, which often breed with each other to produce intermediate-looking hybrid offspring. It generically calls many of the hybrids and some black-crested titmice as tufted. I discovered it's quite easy to modify the ID on the app, however, which probably helps the AI program to improve its quality. I have one strong recommendation for improvement. The roof has almost no overhang past the edge of the feeder tray. We've gotten large amounts of rain here in central Texas this year, and even mild drizzles will soak the seed try and I have to scrape the rotting seeds out frequently. There is no available ready-made dome or shield that I can find to mount over it to reduce rain spoilage. I would like to see Birdfy produce a 3/4 round clear dome that could be slipped onto the mounting base or to the back of the feeder, to reduce the risk of soaking the seeds.

UPDATE: I bought the Netvue Birdfy in May 2023. I was worried my trees would not allow the solar panel to charge properly. Over the summer, I needed to run an extension cord to charge. I did this about once a month. Now that the leaves are off the trees, and even with less sun light each day, the solar panel remains charged continuously. I needed to manually recharge a couple times over the summer - that is no big deal. The solar panel is a worthwhile addition. I have not tried reconnecting to my Echo Show since first purchasing. That is a feature I would really enjoy. But I'm very happy with my Birdfy, am satisfied that the solar panel works as described, and would recommend this product for all bird watchers. Netvue Birdy AI is a fun product for folks who love birds. Assembly is easy. I worried that the hose clip would not secure the mounting bracket to a shepherds hook but it secured very tightly. My feeders are at the edge of a treeline (picture attached) and I worried that the solar panel would not get enough sun to charge. At first discharge, I needed to run an electric cord to feeder to charge for 5 hours. I've placed the solar panel in a different position. Charge seems to be holding a little longer but I imagine I'll need to run the electric cord again periodically. Perhaps once leaves are off the trees, this will work better but it's not a show stopper. The feeder is approximately 73 ft. from my WIFI router. The signal is medium which is very satisfactory considering my home is stucco. The app is easy to use. Accurate identification of birds is not very good but Netvue states the AI identification is improving with more users. I do believe identification will improve as more folks use the product. My BIG disappointment is that Birdfy AI does not connect to my Echo Show. There is also no web-based app to use on a laptop or tablet. Netvue's support is very responsive. After trying numerous times myself to connect to my Echo Show I contacted them. Their response "Our Birdfy and battery cameras are not compatible with Alexa. No updates from the engineers if this will be added in the future." I have attached a screenshot from the video on Amazon. Isn't there an Echo and laptop/tablet there? I probably should have given this product a 2. But I do enjoy watching the birds but would rather see a bigger screen than my phone. Do not buy this product unless you don't mind always watching on your phone.

This was my 2nd feeder from them. My son bought me the hummingbird feeder and I fell in love with closeup shots of birds! Since purchasing this, I bought the larger perch that comes with accessories (little sign, hummingbird attachment, stick for fruit, cups that hold water or jelly) The Camera identifies the bird and taks a video as well as a few shots of the bird. In the app you can download or share to social media and/or the Birdfy community.

I'm giving this product five stars -- not because it's perfect, but because it's awesome and fun despite some imperfections. My young daughters and I bought this birdhouse for my wife for Mother's Day, because several species of birds frequent our back yard, and a smart bird feeder would provide us with an opportunity to have closer encounters with those birds and learn about them. We specifically chose this product over others because it is versatile and provides the option to feed both birdseed-eating birds and hummingbirds with the separately-sold hummingbird feeder. Mission accomplished. It's been great fun so far. On the app, the product owner (i.e., my wife) has the ability to share the account with the rest of us. So, when a bird feeds at the bird feeder, we all get notices on our devices and get to enjoy the experience simultaneously. The video is clear and crisp, and the video signal is strong notwithstanding that the feeder has been set up probably 60 feet away from a WiFi signal. I also like how the camera is “situated” within the feeder: It’s neither too close to the perching area nor too far from it, so the videos usually capture the entire bird in a way that you can see the details. (When I was doing my research and saw images from other feeders, the images were often so close that you couldn’t see the entire bird.) The angle of the camera is also adjustable up and down to help enable you to capture the area of the perch that you want. Setup was really easy. In the box, the product comes with an impressive array of different mounting options. We ultimately chose to mount everything to a pole (purchased separately) so that it would be particularly easy to move the entire setup if we want. We bought the "AI" version of the product, so that we can learn about the birds that visit the feeder. As others have noted, the AI software is a work in progress and often incorrectly identifies the birds. I trust that the software will improve over time -- just as Amazon Alexa has improved by leaps and bounds since it was first launched years ago. Right now, the software is never "ridiculously wrong." For instance, it doesn't identify a hummingbird as a bald eagle, or anything like that. When it identifies a bird as being a particular species, the app provides a link that you can click, which launches a page with photos and information about the bird that the software identified. When the software has identified the bird incorrectly, and when you click on the link and see the photos of the bird that the software has incorrectly identified, those photos almost always LOOK LIKE the bird that visited our feeder. So, our reaction is typically, "That's wrong, but I see why the software identified the bird as the other bird." The app also provides an opportunity to notify the company that the software identified the bird incorrectly, which should presumably improve the software over time. I do think that the company could improve the software IMMEDIATELY by programming it to omit birds from the identification results if the birds do not not live or migrate anywhere near where the bird feeder has been set up. (E.g., we live in the Seattle area, and the search results sometimes incorrectly identify birds that are not found anywhere near our area of North America. One would think that a crafty programmer could program around that.) Ultimately, the AI feature has exceeded my expectations relative to others' reviews, and I'm willing to put some faith that it will improve over time. Based on our experience with this feeder, we're really interested in getting the NetVue nest once that's available in July.

The NetVue Bird Feeder provides great photos and videos of birds that visit to feed. The AI function misidentifies or cannot indentify birds at times, however, overall it is pretty good. I have the solar panel battery charger and recommend it. I set up the feeder and solar panel over a month ago and the battery indicator is still reading fully charged and I live in a notoriously cloudy area. The multiple connections for securing the feeder and solar panel to a pole or tree that came with the feeder are great. Due to my yard and the prevalence of squirrels, chipmonks and raccoons I ultimately purchased a pole and baffle from a separate vendor to mount my Birdfy on and the attachments suppled by NetVue work great on it. NetVue should consider offering their own pole and baffle product. Other comments: - Netvue should consider offering a zoon feature on their camera. The birds are already physically close to the camera, however at times being able to zoom in on what the bird is doing or some activity in the background would be interesting. - The basic menue could be more intuitive and/or descriptive as to function. - I wonder what it would take to increase the strength of the wifi. I have a 5G home wifi and the feeder is located 50 feet from my back door, however, the Birdfy still reports that I have a "weak" signal. Even when I placed the feeder 10 feet from my back door, I still received a "weak wifi connection" notice. I decided to place the feeder 50 feet from my backdoor since that was the best location for my yard and even though I constantly receive a "weak wifi" message the camera seems to operate perfectly. - One of the first steps in the assembly instructions was to insert the SD card. Eventually, I figured out that a SD card was not included with the feeder and was not needed for the basic operation of the feeder. Since a low capacity SD card cost me only $11 retail (and I'm sure NetVue could buy it much cheaper) I suggest that a low capacity SD card be included with each BirdFy by NetVue.