These Smart Devices Improve Bird Watching
Birds had never interested me until I spent a morning in a friend’s garden, watching hundreds of birds swarming her bird feeders. I immediately bought four feeders and built a bird’s dream buffet, which only grew over time. For several years I just watched them come and go, or listened to them sing, but had no idea what I was watching. This year, with the help of smart technology, I have really improved my skills and bird watching has become much more fun.
AI Birdsong will identify birds in your area
Plenty of apps will Shazam tweets of your local birds. The app that receives the most reviews from most birders is BirdNET , developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology . It’s available on Android and Apple and, best of all, it’s free. It also appears that many other applications rely on BirdNET as the basis for data transfer. Cornell Lab has its own app, Merlin , which is also free and has a slightly nicer interface. Merlin relies solely on Cornell data sources, while BirdNET uses additional data sources so it has a larger library to work with. They both use AI to combine the birdsong you point your phone at with library resources to identify the source. While there are other apps, such as ChirpOMatic ($3.99), they are not free or as well-tested.
However, these apps require you to have your phone, open the app and point your phone in the direction of the song, all before the bird stops singing. I recently installed a Haikubox ($249, including first year membership) in my yard that passively listens all the time. Haikubox looks like a small power supply that is always connected to the network. It is weatherproof so you can simply leave it in the yard. The app records birdsong, identifies it, and then sends notifications and reports about birds in your yard to your phone. While Haikubox isn’t the best hardware or software (it requires two apps: one for reporting, one for updating; the user interface isn’t very clear, and sharing isn’t very well developed), it’s incredibly fun. Within minutes of installation, I received recordings of individual hummingbirds and pine siskins, which is what I expected. But sounds I hadn’t previously picked up on suddenly had an ID, and updates often sent me running to the window or door to see if I could find the source of the song. Haikubox also uses BirdNET and a combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence. While the data is easy to download for your own use, if you want to store your IDs and records for more than a few hours, you’ll have to pay for a subscription ($60 per year).
Smart birdhouses will bring you closer and closer
My favorite birdhouse is the one that attaches to the window; I can see this from my desktop. It’s clear, and the jays are coming for the mealworms I left behind. Unfortunately, squirrels do the same thing. The best solution for close-up interaction is a smart birdhouse, the most famous of which is the Bird Buddy, which won an innovation award at CES this year. Last week I installed the latest Bird Buddy with solar roof ($299). The cost of the birdhouse is not the only expense: the kit includes a hook for hanging the feeder, but if you have squirrels, this is absolutely useless. I bought a squirrel pole and baffle to set up a birdhouse and create a squirrel-proof area. It took a week, but over the past few days I have been rewarded with my first visitors. Bird Buddy has a well-designed app that allows you to view your own camera feed in real time or deliver notifications of any visitors to your birdhouse with an ID, recorded video and photos, all designed to be shared. While you wait, you can also tune into birdhouses around the world.
There are plenty of other smart birdhouses, including the Birdfy ($249), which also debuted at CES this year. Birdfy has a wider-angle camera than Bird Buddy and a removable battery that may make charging easier than Bird Buddy. Both are equipped with solar panels, so charging should not be a problem.
Bird Buddy also has a hummingbird feeder coming to pre-order this August ($359) that I’m dying to test out; Hummingbirds are some of the funniest birds in the garden, but they are difficult to capture on film.
Unfortunately, none of these apps remind you to clean your bird feeder, which is non-negotiable unless you want to spread disease to the local bird population, so you’ll need to set up recurring reminders in your calendar. Depending on the weather, you may want to clean your feeder at least once every two weeks; When it’s hot outside, your hummingbird feeder needs to be changed every day.
You can buy specific bird seed for your region.
Turns out, bird food isn’t cheap, and you’ll be surprised how quickly your local flock starts eating it. There are probably local bird shops here and you should visit them because, despite all the clever technology, they will know your local bird population better than anyone else and will know exactly what they want to eat. I was also pleased to find Happy Bird Watcher , which makes custom seed mixes based on your zip code and delivers them to you regularly.
Smart cooperatives are here too
Most people with flocks of chickens or ducks already have coop doors that open and close when exposed to the sun. However, now you can finally have a smart chicken coop. Smart Coop has cameras, feeders and doors that communicate information to you via an app. You can get the entire setup including the coop for $1,995, the coop for $1,695, or just get the door and cameras for $399.99 and install them on your existing coop.