Birdbuddy 2 – a smart bird feeder that sends you bird selfies

Confession: I can name about four birds. Pigeon, seagull, crow and “small brown one”, which visits my garden daily and remains a mystery.

The Birdbuddy 2 would solve that. It’s a smart bird feeder with a camera built in: a bird lands for a snack, the camera wakes up, takes photos and video, and the app tells you which species just dropped by.

It’s a doorbell camera for birds. I didn’t know I needed one until now.

What is the Birdbuddy 2?

Birdbuddy started as a Kickstarter project from a team in Slovenia in 2020, and its first feeder became a bit of a hit in American backyards. The Birdbuddy 2 is the second generation. It was announced at CES in January 2026 and first went to people who preordered, with wider sales from mid-2026. On Amazon it’s listed as the Birdbuddy Home.

The main changes, according to Birdbuddy:

• A new round camera with 2K HDR video, slow motion and a 135-degree field of view, behind Gorilla Glass.
• You can mount the camera in portrait or landscape, so your clips are ready for Instagram or for YouTube.
• A microphone, so the AI can identify birds by their song as well as how they look.
• Two solar panels built into the roof, plus an automatic night sleep mode.
• Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5 GHz), a bigger seed compartment and a built-in perch extender.

How does a smart bird feeder work?

You fill it with seed, hang it or mount it on a pole within reach of your Wi-Fi, and pair it with the app. When a bird lands, the camera wakes up and records. The app then sends you a “postcard” with the photos, the clip and the species. You can also watch a live stream.

The free app covers species ID, live streaming and postcards. A Premium membership ($5.99 a month or $59.99 a year, according to TechRadar) adds longer clips, the full 2K “Ultra” resolution, Alexa support and more filters.

The good and the not-so-good

Lauren Scott at TechRadar hung one in her garden for more than six months, and her review is the most detailed one I could find.

The good:

• The solar roof kept the camera powered for over half a year without her having to charge it once.
• She found the AI bird identification “almost perfect”.
• The postcards work as a daily highlight reel, so your phone doesn’t fill up with thousands of near-identical clips.

The not-so-good:

• It missed birds. Even in its most sensitive mode, she watched birds sit on the feeder without getting a postcard, and the live stream was sometimes laggy.
• You can’t set the sleep hours yourself, so it slept through some of the earliest, busiest morning visits.
• In landscape mode, small birds sitting low in the seed tray get cropped off at the bottom.
• If you ever do need to charge it by hand, the whole feeder has to come down, because the camera and solar roof are wired together.
• The best video quality sits behind the subscription.

On Amazon it has 4.0 out of 5 stars, but from only 10 ratings so far.

Who is the Birdbuddy 2 for?

Anyone who already watches the feeder from the kitchen window with a cup of coffee. It’s also a great gift for grandparents or kids, with one condition: someone has to handle the Wi-Fi setup. If you want every single visit logged for science, TechRadar’s review suggests this isn’t the most reliable option. It’s built for fun and pretty pictures.

If your garden gadgets are more about water and chaos than birds, try the water rocket sprinkler or a round of Kubb instead.

Where can I buy the Birdbuddy 2?

Birdbuddy sells it on Amazon US as the Birdbuddy Home, in blue. Birdbuddy announced it at $199. The Amazon price changes often, especially around sales, so check the current one.

Finally I’ll learn the name of the small brown one. Take my money.