A cardinal can land, eat breakfast and leave in the time it takes to tell somebody to look out the window. Birdbuddy Nook gives the bird a camera crew of one. A lens faces the perch from just behind the seed, ready to record the visitor that everyone at the breakfast table except you apparently saw.
From across the yard, the Nook looks like a little green house with a pitched roof. Get closer and the front door turns out to be a big round camera. Seed sits behind a clear panel on either side of the lens. A narrow rail runs across the front, putting a bird that stops to eat roughly where a portrait photographer would have asked it to stand. Good luck getting a chickadee to honor a chalk mark.
A seat on the other side of the glass
Birdbuddy builds a 2K HDR camera into the feeder and gives it a 135-degree field of view. That wide angle makes sense at this distance. A bird can be close enough to fill the frame with its face while a second bird hops up beside it. The interesting bit might be the newcomer on the edge, particularly if it has opinions about whose turn it is.
The camera wakes when a visitor arrives. The Birdbuddy phone app can alert you to a visit and show you what happened. That changes who gets to enjoy a feeder. The person whose desk faces a parking lot can still see who came for lunch back home. And the person with a perfectly good view of the yard can finally settle what happened during that ill-timed trip to the toaster.
Birdbuddy shows a pair of northern cardinals passing a seed from one bill to the other. From the kitchen, you might see two crests and a red flash. At the perch you can see which bird picked up the seed and which one took it. There’s a whole little sequence in those few seconds, with a beginning, an end and better table manners than some households manage.
Picking a spot for the Nook
The metal hanger and universal pole mount both come in the box. The hanger suits a yard with a suitable branch. The mount is handy for an open patch where the best branch happens to belong to the neighbors. Birdbuddy lists the pole mount among the included parts, so count the pole itself separately when planning that setup.
- Stand where you plan to refill the feeder. Imagine getting a scoop of seed into it from that position on a chilly morning.
- Look past the perch. Whatever sits behind the bird will turn up in the picture, possibly including that hose you have meant to coil since spring.
- Check the connection at the actual hanging spot. A phone sitting on the kitchen counter tells you very little about the far corner of the yard.
- Consider how much daylight reaches the roof before choosing the solar model. The prettiest shady branch may suit the rechargeable version better.
The reservoir holds 3.8 cups. Measuring a first fill gives you a feel for what that looks like through the clear front panel. How long it lasts is a question for the local clientele. A quiet feeder and a popular one can hold exactly the same amount of seed and have remarkably different effects on your Saturday shopping list.
What comes with each version
| Detail | Nook | Nook Solar |
|---|---|---|
| Power | USB-C rechargeable | Solar charging roof |
| Camera | 2K HDR | 2K HDR |
| Placement hardware | Metal hanger and pole mount | Metal hanger and pole mount |
The choice comes down to an ordinary chore. If you already have a convenient way to reach the feeder and don’t mind plugging in the camera, the standard model does the photography. If carrying it in to charge is exactly the kind of job that turns into three weeks on a windowsill, the solar roof has a clear appeal. Either feeder will still need a human with a bag of seed.
Putting a name to the face
The app offers species identification and a bird encyclopedia. Those two features make a nice pair for someone learning the regulars. You can look at the bird, take a guess and then check what Birdbuddy thinks you saw. Once you have a name to look up, the marks that seemed like generic streaks of brown start to look like details you might recognize next time.
Try it with the cardinals. The bright red male is a fairly generous opening question. Look at the other bird in the same scene, though, and you can pick out the crest, thick bill and reddish accents against a much warmer brown body. A close picture of two birds under the same light gives you a better comparison than two fleeting glimpses several mornings apart.
There’s also a distinctly low-tech extra in the current bundles. Bird Anatomy, by Julia Rothman and Michael Hearst, is a hand-illustrated book you can leave by the window. It’s a thoughtful inclusion for a family buying one feeder together. Someone can have the phone and someone else can have the book, which improves the odds of a peaceful breakfast by at least one contested screen.
Read the bundle choices carefully if this is a gift. Birdbuddy lists its iOS and Android app with the Basic bundle. The Essential option adds a trial of the Family Premium membership with an annual billing arrangement afterward. If your intended recipient wants a feeder and a book, the Basic choice makes that gift much easier to explain when the wrapping paper comes off.
The backyard details
- Birdbuddy Nook photographs and records birds from a camera facing the perch.
- The camera has a 135-degree field of view and wakes for arriving visitors.
- A clear front panel lets you see the level in the 3.8-cup seed reservoir.
- Both hanging and pole-mount hardware come with the feeder.
- The standard model charges over USB-C. The solar version adds a charging roof.
Birdbuddy lists the Nook at $99 and the Nook Solar at $139, marked down from $159 in its US store. The Essential bundle’s free month of Family Premium is followed by a listed $8.25 per month billed yearly. For a yard with a reachable branch, the base feeder already puts the camera in the most interesting seat in the house. The birds get the one with breakfast.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Perch-level video captures details easily missed from indoors. | Birds elsewhere in the yard can stay outside the shot. |
| Two included mounting options suit different yards. | A pole installation calls for a suitable pole. |
| The standard model includes the 2K HDR camera. | It needs periodic USB-C charging. |
| A solar roof can cut down on charging trips. | It costs extra and needs daylight. |
Save this find.
Thank yourself later.
Your next great gift idea. Your someday space. Your collection of wonderfully weird things.
Pick a board. Keep the inspiration.
This Camera Bird Feeder Records and Identifies Your Backyard Visitors
At a glance
