Birding is one of life’s great joys. Birds are so beautiful and fun to watch, but you have to keep your distance to not scare them away. Smart bird feeders—that is, bird feeders with cameras and connected apps—give you a close-up view of your backyard birds through captured images and real-time live views (as long as your Wi-Fi reaches). They’ve become increasingly popular, and tons of options are being released from reputable brands and Amazon clones alike. These are the best bird feeders we’ve tried.
The apps use AI that can, in theory, identify the species of birds. In our testing, none have had perfectly solid identifications. Nevertheless, each has pros that might appeal to you. You can use Google Lens or, if you have an iPhone running iOS 15 or later, download the photos to your camera roll and click the info button. It does a solid job of identifying birds. Even as a…
