Smart bird feeders that allow you to capture images and video of the visitors to your garden have been highly popular for the last couple of years. But many of these high-tech devices that are controlled via your smartphone have been relatively expensive. Birdbuddy is doing something about this with the release of the Birdbuddy Nook – which will retail from $99 when it starts shipping in November.
This five-megapixel bird camera was first shown at CES at the beginning of the year - when it was being touted as the Birdbuddy 2 Mini. Now renamed the Nook, the camera can capture Full HD video and 5MP stills and offers a 135° field of view.
A neat feature here is that you get to choose between vertical or horizontal capture modes - to suit how you are going to use and share your best clips.
The built-in 3900mAh rechargeable battery can power the device for up to a month, and it topped up using a USB-C connector.
Using wifi to connect to your home network, the free app will not only send notifications about new sightings to your phone - it will also warn you if a cat is on the prowl in your backyard, or if a bird looks sick. It will also identify the names of birds that you have visiting, from a database of 11,000 species.
The Nook ships with a hook for suspending the feeder and a universal mount for attaching it to a pole. A wall mount is available as an optional extra.
Well worth the extra investment, is the optional solar panel - which can be bought at purchase as the Nook Solar for $159.
