I’ve always enjoyed checking out trail cams and bird feeder cams on YouTube. I spent quite a bit of time looking into creating my own setup, even going so far as getting a camera to do the job. But it (the effort) was just SO MUCH, and I simply didn’t have the energy to get it done. Plus, I was disappointed in how notifications, recording, storage and even file access was handled in all the apps I tried. Happily, I did find the perfect solution for me!
I discovered bird feeders that come with built-in cameras AND solar panels! Of course, all I want to do these days is watch the camera feeds, but that’s ok. Right? Read on to see our bird feeding station setup…
I’ve included some links to these items in this post, and at the bottom you’ll find additional links. Just so you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I found a feeder that checked all the boxes for me — the Farmice Smart Bird Feeder — with solar panels on the roof, so no worries about getting power to it. I needed to buy a micro SD card to allow the feeder to store images, but that was a minor expense. It was super easy to set up, thankfully. I charged it up, downloaded the ‘Bird Lover’ app, and was quickly able to connect it to our Wi-Fi. As long as you pop an SD card in it, there are no fees or subscriptions or anything else you have to pay for. My husband used the included hardware to mount it, and we were good to go.
We filled the feeder up, and just a couple of minutes later, we had bird visitors! I was so freaking excited! You can set the app up to send you notifications when a bird and/or motion is detected, or you can watch it live on your phone. You can snap photos live or while watching saved video, too. Another great feature is that you can view the playback and have it show you a video clip of every bird visit, which you can easily save to your “gallery” and/or download. The download options cover ALL the bases, which is awesome.
The feeder also has one- or two-way voice, and it even has a siren function so that you can shoo away squirrels or bossy bully birds, such as starlings. Confession: I have spent WAY too much time sitting here watching the feed, hitting that siren and watching the squirrels scatter. Don’t get me wrong though… We love our squirrel friends, and we feed them, too. They just need to stay in their lane.
Importantly, the solar panels work so great that even in the dreary gloom of NW Ohio, we have never had to bring them in the house for a charge. Oh, and the ‘Bird Lover’ app will also ID birds for you, either when you’re watching live or looking at photos or videos you’ve captured.
So here I am, a couple of months after getting this feeder, and I can’t find a single thing about it I don’t like. In fact, we now have a second one, which we’ve set up just for hummingbirds. We converted the second feeder to a hummingbird feeder by lifting off the perch and clipping these little hummingbird nectar cups to the seed cup.
Please, never use store-bought ‘hummingbird food’. It’s bad for the hummers. Just use a mixture of 4 parts water to one part granulated sugar, and be certain the sugar dissolves completely. The cups need to be cleaned and refilled every 2 to 3 days.
Every single day when I get up, the first thing I do (after letting the boys out to do their morning business) is check the playback on both feeders. I grab some photos and videos and save them, then share with my Facebook friends, my neighborhood group and my YouTube channel. We’ve had a bird’s eye view, literally, of some wonderful moments!
It’s very, VERY fun and rewarding, and one of the best things we’ve ever gotten ourselves!
This is the Farmice Smart Bird Feeder that utilizes the Bird Lover app.
https://amzn.to/3o35Yp2
The little clip-on hummingbird feeder cups can be found here:
https://amzn.to/3OcCnE6
Erva SB7 Disk Baffle, 22.5″ is here, though you can also use a 5 gallon bucket, as we did for the other feeder:
https://amzn.to/3MBhq39
My Amazon Storefront, where I share my favorite products:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/tinkmartin
My YouTube playlist for these feeders, updated regularly with new content:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLapMguq_eBJpMxuz_FAS4lbro_Rxmw96r
Tink Loves 