Metal Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder with Camera

UPDATE (after a few days): Squirrels still visit the feeder, but normally don't stay long, and they are unable to drain the feeder as they did with our old non-"Squirrel Proof" feeder. I continue to be impress by this Birdkiss brand all metal feeder and find myself wanting to get more. :)

Original review on day one:
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Nearly twice the price of the all plastic smart feeders, however considerably better made. This Birdkiss feeder is impressive and in my opinion it is worth the extra price. With the exception of the clear front panel, camera and the solar panel, everything else is made of heavy nicely finished metal. The bracket that supports it is heavy and thick than the metal ones that other lower cost feeders typically provide. Those will to stand up to the fat raccoon that would occasionally raided my prior (plastic) smart feeder bend the feeder 90 degrees forward. The Birdkiss bracket is extremely thick and stiff. My raccoon "friend" has not been by to challenge it but I suspect he will loose. As an extra precaution I attached the hanging bracket (also heavy metal) and anchored it at the top with a nylon strap. With that additional support I can guarantee he will lose. Additionally the grated food tray certainly goes a long way in slowing down my local squirrel population, though they have disproved the Birdkiss "Squirrel Proof" claim. :)

So perhaps you are thinking, you will save some money and buy one of the plastic smart bird feeders with similar specs. Learn from my mistake. The squirrels can empty those in 1/2 a day, and a racoon will bend them forward until the plastic base breaks. I even found that something (chimmunk, mouse, rat, ???) was chewed the plastic opening where the food dispenses after eating everything and trying to get the little bit still stuck inside the feeder. That was my experience, and the reason I was anxious to trade it out for this all metal feeder.

I found this all metal Birdkiss feeder solves all those issues, and on top of that it is much easier to fill. The metal fill top secured with a single wing nut, but tilts forward opens wide for easy filling. There is even a small plastic measuring cup to help with that, though had no problem pouring from the large popcorn jug I store my bird feed in. Additionally its camera was sharper and clear, with brighter colors than the other smart feeder I had been using before. It connected to my WiFi without issue, and maintains a strong connection outside at roughly 25 feet from my router. I did try placing it 75 feet out from the router and found it would not maintain a connection, so definitely experiment with placement before permanently mounting it anywhere.

As much as I have sung the praise of this feeder, I will leave you with one small criticism that it shares with other smart feeders, which is the app it uses tries to upsell you to a subscription for cloud based recording. They offer longer record times and more storage though the Birdkiss app also holds back the ability to identify birds unless you go with a paid subscription. Other smart feeders don't hold that back. My prior feeder had that and I found it fun to use, though not worthy of buying a subscription to have it. I still recommend this Birdkiss feeder, and found the software better with that single exception.

As always I will return if after a few months of use, I run into issues, but my expectation is that the metal build quality of this will hold up for many years. Hopefully the same will be try for the solar panel and camera, but I will return with updates should I find those lacking.

Really cool for anyone that likes birds. Easy set up and always cool to see the different birds that stop by for a quick snack.

Pretty cool bird feeder. I love how you can watch the birds feed up close and not disturb them. Very cool.

This is a really cool concept to take the bird feeder to the next level. Mounting occurs via strap, directly **** the frame into a post, or post mounting with the post connecting to the bottom of the base. I leveraged the strap which fits well and holds the unit securely.

Connecting to wifi allows for this to send alerts and videos to the app and the sensitivity is very good picking up each bird feeding interval throughout the day. The app allows you to review each capture which is further segmented by the time on any given day and the days available are listed across the top (pic included of the interface). The feeder also comes with an SD card which captures they same shots as the cloud option and lets you maintain the videos on hard media within the camera. You can also access the sd card video through the app. I chose not to spend extra on more cloud storage and the bird identification feature but for me the capture is more than enough to keep it interesting. This whole design is well constructed, the interface is simple, and the unit is just kind of fun. Well done.

Ive had this smart feeder about a month and a half now and I love it! I only get two bars on the wi-fi where I placed it but have not had any connection issues at all. The battery stays fully charged at all times and I get some lovely videos of my birds! The bird ID can be helpful sometimes but I wish it would allow you to input your region so as to filter out birds from Australia, Africa etc (Im in the US). Of course this doesnt effect the functionality of the feeder. I also wish I could find different accessories for the perch like maybe a small hummingbird feeder or mealworm/jelly cup. All in all I am extremely happy with this purchase and highly recommend this product!

I think this is amazing. Watching birds feed in real time is awesome. The Birdkiss smart bird feeder can alert your phone every time a bird (or squirrel) is feeding. If you have a lot of birds in the area, there is a way to turn off the notification. If a squirrel comes along to feed, the feeder has an alarm (very loud) you can trigger from the app to scare it away. The description says, "...it can accurately identify squirrels and drive them away with a flashlight, siren, or voice commands via the microphone. I love that feature; however, I haven't figured it out just yet. You can also set it to where the alarm sounds whenever motion is detected. Or maybe that's the squirrel mode.... hmmm.

The camera has a 1080P HD lens and a 135 viewing angle. You can also turn on the microphone so you can hear the birds sing as they feed. This makes for great background sounds while working, relaxing, or drifting off to sleep.

The description says the AI can identify 10,000+ Bird Species. I didn't really need that, so I don't have that (subscription) turned on. The bird feeder has a built-in 5000mAh rechargeable battery and includes a 3W solar panel for constant charging. This allows you to mount the feeder just about anywhere you want.

The feeder has a large-capacity container that they say holds a lot of food for the birds, so you don't have to refill it frequently. I highly recommend NOT filling the container! Birds are very messy eaters, and they will have seeds strewn all over the place. If you fill the container, they will quickly have it overflowing (see included pic) and you will have to fill it again, and again, and again. And the bad thing about it is you will come out to see most of the seeds on the ground.

HERE IS ANOTHER AMAZING BENEFIT OF THIS FEEDER. It also serves as an amazing security camera!! You heard right! I was driving home when I got an alert on my phone that the feeder had detected motion. I pulled up the image on my phone to see people in my back hard. I immediately activated the built-in microphone to ask them what they were doing in my backyard. It turned out the landscapers had arrived a day earlier than they said they were going to. They looked shocked to find out the Bird House was watching and speaking to them! Nobody would suspect this birdhouse to be a security camera!! Ha, ha, ha, busted!!!

This product was easy to assemble and to get up and running. After connecting to my local Wi-Fi, setting it up on a pole outside, and enabling Motion Detection on the Vicohome app, I started getting candid shots of the birds coming to the feeder (as attached). The camera's picture quality is good and has a good field of vision. I'm able to control it remotely, such as turning off motion detection and putting it in sleep mode, even when I'm miles away.
The feeder has been operating for almost a week and still has half of the battery charge remaining so power consumption is low. There is a solar power panel for charging the bird feeder in-place and a USB cable for charging it from a computer or other USB power source.
It also has a front patio extension with plenty of bird-sized perches. I've never seen this feature on a bird feeder but it is nice because the birds tend to land there, which gives a good camera perspective.
I will be experimenting with different types of seeds and food. There are plastic spikes for spearing pieces of the fruit. Where I live in Massachusetts, USA, I'll probably see about adapting these for suet or some other types of protein-rich foods. I'm looking forward to more visitors and the up-close pictures of their behavior.

First impression, a very well designed good looking little house blinded into the hills beautifully and very easy to install and set up. After a few days usage, found out that the most impressive functionality is the activity reporting schema, it not only give me the complete report of birds activities detected by highly sensitive camera, it also give me the detailed information regarding what has been seen, be it my dogs running in yard, my horses passby, wild turkeys come and go, bobcat sneaking around my chicken coop in distance ... all kinds of activities amazingly with accurate message titles so I can know what is going on by just glancing at the event titles. Very happy, I am buying a smart bird feeder, and ended up with a highly intelligent all around monitoring device - better than all of the devices I installed on my property.

This brings so much enjoyment to a disabled person. This is worth 6 stars. I highly recommend to everyone. There's nothing negative to say about this bird feeder. Worth the money. I'd push the purchase button if I were you.

Quality product and the AI bird recognition was spot on!

We love this bird feeder with camera. It was very easy to assemble. The video is very clear and we enjoy watching the different types of birds that stop to eat.
I highly recommend this bird feeder.

The set up is easy enough on this, after downloading the app it walks you through hooking the camera up through Bluetooth and connecting it to your wi fi. It's been running a few days now and love watching the different types of birds that come in. You can pay extra a month for a bird identifier for it as well. Camera doubles as a security camera too, even has alarms you can set or notifications for people,packages,birds,or vehicles and you can turn these on or off and adjust them as needed. The longest the videos record is 20 seconds, but default is 10 so make sure to set that as needed. At first I thought the price was a little high but now that I've been watching all these different birds and all you can use this camera for, I can say it's worth it. Definite 5 stars love it!

I recently purchased the Birdkiss Smart Bird Feeder with Camera Solar Powered, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. The feeder's solar-powered design makes it incredibly convenient, as I don't have to worry about constantly changing batteries or finding an electrical outlet. The HD camera feature is a fantastic addition to a feeder, allowing me to watch birds feeding in real-time from my smartphone. The camera is tiltable to get the right angle on the birds. And the lens is very wide, so it gets beautiful shots.

The feeder is well-designed and sturdy. It has ample space for birds to perch and feeds comfortably. The build quality is exceptional, and the materials used are of high quality, ensuring that it can withstand harsh weather conditions. And the assembly design is superb. It builds relatively fast and is fun to put together. It also has a sturdy metal base with a receiver for a 3/4" tube. It even comes with small accessories to hook fruits to the feeder.

I also appreciate the easy-to-use app that comes with the feeder, allowing me to customize feeding schedules and adjust settings effortlessly. The app offers several service levels; you will get what you need from the free version, but it offers additional paid features.

Overall, I highly recommend the Birdkiss Smart Bird Feeder with Camera Solar Powered to bird enthusiasts looking for a convenient and fun way to feed and observe their feathered friends. It's a top-quality product that exceeded my expectations, and I'm confident it will do the same for you!

The smart feeder is really convenient and enjoyable. It definitely brings a lot of Wows to the family, particularly to my kids. They now spend more and more time watching the bird movement in the backyard instead of being glued to iPhone.
It is nice to know that the feeder is smart enough to know bird from squirrels which roam around in my yard quite a lot. I guess the birds do not need to compete with other animals for food any more.
The sleek design is another good addition to my landscape. Bring about more beauty to outdoor life