Kiwibit Beako Smart Bird Feeder review: I’ve added a 4K feeder to my yard, and I can’t stop watching the footage!

There’s something rewarding about having bird feeders on your property, but what if you aren’t often around to see your feathered visitors, or how do you know which birds are munching on all the feed you leave for them? Well, one way is to get your hands on a smart bird feeder, of which there are now quite a few, as you can see in our bird feeder camera buying guide, each with varying abilities and quality.

The Kiwibit Beako aims to satisfy a number of different needs, promising 4K footage, shot when a bird lands and kicks a motion sensor into action. For the less knowledgeable ornithologists out there, the Beako app is there to identify the species, as well as capture footage of them, leading to a fun learning exercise, as well as encouraging some wildlife into your garden.

I’ve had the Beako set up in my backyard for a while now, and I have some thoughts…

Kiwibit Beako: Specifications

Kiwibit Beako: Price

I'm reviewing the second-generation Beako Kiwibit Smart Bird Feeder, which has a list price of $269.99 / £259.99 and has 4.4W solar panels built into its roof. It's a more elegant solution than the 3W plug-in panel of the previous model. It's sometimes discounted, and our price widget will hunt out the best current deal for you.

Do keep in mind that not all features are available without a subscription, so weigh up the pros and cons. The app subscription is $4.49 / £3.99 a month and extends clip duration, length of cloud storage availability, as well as adding the AI features.

Kiwibit Beako: Design & Handling

At first glance, the contents of the package look a bit much, and I thought there might be a lot of assembly involved, but that wasn’t the case. In actual fact, the number of components provided is to aid fitting in the widest range of situations. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The main unit has a battery pre-installed, although you need to remove it briefly to peel off a protective sticker. This battery is rechargeable via a supplied USB-C cable, but more on that later.

Also, part of the main section is the camera setup. There’s a motion sensor that sits above the lens of the 4K camera, which has a 132º field of view. First things to do are connect the roof, which clicks into a hinge, and plug in the USB-C cable from the roof to the back of the unit. This is because there is a pair of solar panels to keep the battery topped up. These each provide 2.2W of power.

There’s a button on the rear of the unit that unlocks the roof hinge, allowing the dual-feed bins to be filled or removed for cleaning and so on.

Then it’s time to start attaching things. First off, there is a bottom-mounted perch, which you don’t have to install. In fact, if you want to prevent larger species or squirrels from nabbing all the goodies, it might be wise to leave it off. I fitted it because who doesn’t love a squirrel video!?

The decision of how and where to mount the feeder will vary, depending on your backyard, but thankfully, the Beako ships with options for pole mounts, a strap mount, or a wall/fence mount. All the components needed are supplied, including screws, plugs, and an Allen key for attaching the fittings to the feeder. I started with the strap wrapped around a fence post, just while I got up and running, but I soon swapped it out for a screwed-in mount on a higher fence post, which is rock solid.

The whole thing fits together perfectly, feels great quality, and is robust, so it should have a good service life. Once you initially charge the battery, setup is simple. It’s a case of pairing via the app, and you are good to go.

I’ve been watching a whole bunch of activities so far, but is it any good?

Kiwibit Beako: Performance

Once the setup is complete, there’s really nothing to it. Simply await notifications, either on your phone (or your Apple Watch, if you have one). The notifications tell you a bird has visited and what species it is. You can then click the notification to go straight to the video, or open the app to check a list of activities, and click on any entry to see what it was.

Now, this is where you need to make a decision. You can stay subscription-free and still see the activities, or watch a live feed from the camera, and you can share those videos directly from the app, via email, WhatsApp, etc., and for many people, that will be enough.

That said, there is a lot to be said for upgrading to the subscription service. This extends clip length to a maximum of three minutes, whereas the free version is 20 seconds. You also change the rolling one-day cloud storage for your footage to two months, which could be very useful if you are away without internet access but still want to keep track of your feathered visitors.

On top of that, the free service doesn’t give you access to the AI tools. I didn’t expect this feature to be all that interesting, but the reality is very different. I’ve really enjoyed the fact that the Beako notifies me there’s a visit, but even more so that it tells me the species and gives an overview of the species, with links to even more detailed insights. Over time, I’ve learned plenty of facts I didn’t expect to, such as European Robins do not seem to be overly good at adapting to new surroundings. Attempts to start populations in Australia and the US failed. Who knew?

But what about the camera itself? It’s actually pretty good. It’s 4K, but don’t expect anything cinematic out of it. It’s more akin to a good dashcam, partly due to the wide field of view but also because of the way cameras like these work. You’ll find that the image is a little choppy. Now, birds' movements are often very fast in and of themselves, but the fast shutter speeds this camera uses exaggerate this. It’s perfectly acceptable for this use case, but worth noting. Other than that, the video is crisp and clear, and the audio isn’t bad either. The Beako does have a talk-back option, although I’m not sure why you’d want to, other than maybe to discourage squirrels!

Dynamic range isn't exactly great, so there are often blown-out areas of sky and a lack of detail in the shadows, but this camera isn't about Oscar-winning cinematography, and it does just fine for the intended purpose.

The motion sensor seems to be well calibrated. If I watch out of the window to see what's happening, it doesn't miss any birds, but it also doesn't pick up my dog when she runs by. It will record briefly if a person lingers in front of it too long, but that's rare.

Kiwibit Beako smart 4k bird feeder - YouTube

Watch On

I fully charged the battery before installing and haven’t needed to recharge it, so the built-in solar panels must be doing a good job. After a couple of weeks, the level is still showing as full.

The app has a few more functions that are a nice touch. For example, if you don’t want to trawl through the entire video library, there’s a ‘Birds’ tab. Click on that, and it will show you only the species that have visited you, along with information such as how many visits you’ve had, when they were last seen, and a link to the corresponding videos in your activities view.

Another neat touch is that you can share not just individual videos but also your whole feed, so if you have friends or relatives you think might enjoy watching, there are no extra costs involved.

I’ve enjoyed getting notified about new visitors and will be trying some different bird feeds to see if that tempts any different species into my yard. Plus, thanks to the dual-feed hopper, I can keep the existing visitors fed too.

Kiwibit Beako: Verdict

The Beako is a well-designed combination of hardware and software. The video quality is great, as is the overall build quality, and it’s good to see a whole set of installation options catered to out of the box. I’m not always a fan of subscriptions, but in this case, if you are interested in the birds that visit you, I think it is well worth it. Extended video durations, longer cloud storage, and species identification make for a great package.

Alternatives

The Bird Buddy Smart Feeder can identify birds and remind you of when they visit with phone notifications, so you can see your feathered visitors, even when away from home.