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I have been experiencing a great deal of joy with wild birds recently.
My wife gifted me a Bird Buddy for Christmas, and with UGA football season concluded, I’ve dived headfirst into bird observation.
If you’re unfamiliar with what a Bird Buddy is and have a fondness for wild birds, you ought to explore this item. It’s a bird feeder featuring a camera integrated within its structure, enabling it to capture images of birds that visit to feed and send them to an application on my mobile device.
The Bird Buddy utilizes some impressive A.I. technology to recognize the bird, subsequently recording a brief video clip of the charming creature along with a few photos for my digital archive. Once the bird is entered into my database, you can gather interesting information about each of the guests. You can discover details concerning their preferred foods, average size, and natural habitats. The application will also play a sample of the bird’s song to aid in identification.
When I initially filled my new Bird Buddy with seeds, I included some dried mealworms, which clearly are a bird delicacy as the wrens and bluebirds showed up within mere hours and have remained ever since, three weeks later.
The avian visitors I have captured on camera include the Eastern bluebird, Carolina wren, Northern mockingbird, chipping sparrows, tufted titmouse, house finch, and the regrettable visit of the troublesome brown-headed cowbird, which I dislike for numerous reasons. Each evening, the Bird Buddy app on my smartphone provides a summary of the birds that visited throughout the day. I enjoy saving some of these videos and photos to share the impressive images with my fellow birding enthusiasts.
During the snowstorm last week, I became a bit restless while confined indoors with the weather conditions. As soon as I had the opportunity to go outside, I promptly refilled my two large bird feeders, the suet feeder, and the Bird Buddy with food. I scattered about 3 cups of wild bird seed beneath and around the feeders on the icy snow mix. The food was so conspicuous against the white ground that I wouldn’t be surprised if the seeds were visible from the International Space Station.
The birds and squirrels didn’t seem to have any trouble locating the food. From the moment I set the seeds out until dusk, I wager there wasn’t a moment without at least 25 birds occupying the feeders and their vicinity.
A group of chipping sparrows roosts in a wild sumac I have growing near my feeders, and they descend in droves to eat the food on the ground. These sparrows are such amusing little creatures. They will take breaks and then suddenly, 20 of them will be on the ground eagerly eating and chatting among themselves.
My friend John mentioned he received a Bird Buddy for Christmas and felt he required some IT assistance for setup. I must admit it does require a bit of effort to get it linked to your home Wi-Fi, but the good news is I didn’t smash it into a million pieces out of frustration before finishing the installation.
The camera features a small magnet for affixing it to the feeder, making it simple to detach for recharging the battery, which lasts around two weeks per charge. Bird Buddy does offer a solar charger that attaches to the roof of the feeder, ensuring your camera remains continuously charged so you don’t have to deal with a cord that I will likely misplace in the next month. I might consider investing in the solar roof in the upcoming weeks.
This remarkable Christmas present has brought me a great deal of enjoyment. I wish you all joyful birdwatching.
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