AI Bird Feeder IDs, Takes Pics: FeatherSnap Scout Review

As a lifelong birder, I approached testing the FeatherSnap Scout Smart Bird Feeder with a fair amount of skepticism. I don’t need help identifying the feathered visitors to my small yard. Yet, over months of use, I grew enthused that I could track and observe more aspects of bird behavior.

The close-up photos of birds on the tray are good and helpful for both users and the FeatherSnap AI to identify them. Yet, the more candid shots that I ended up saving to my camera roll (and include in this review) are those of birds jockeying for position on the feeder tray or the seeming awkwardness of a bird suspended midair with its wings tucked against its body as it drops in for a landing.

With the companion app, Feathersnap produces a photo log of visitors and lets users collate them into a life list of different bird species. It’s a bit of a gamified approach to an aspect of the feeder. I think it would be great for beginner birders, especially younger ones.

In short: The FeatherSnap Smart Bird Feeder ($180) uses a camera to log feathered visitors. With its companion app, it can help identify and log the different species. This smart bird feeder can be a learning tool that helps amateur birders identify common backyard species and more infrequent visitors. Experienced birders will enjoy the stream of time-stamped photos to track the comings and goings of birds and monitor their interactions.

FeatherSnap Smart Bird Feeder Review

My Experience: Winter Brought the Birds

I initially had a friend with a larger yard and little experience identifying birds try out the feeder for testing in the fall. However, the bigger yard was no match for fickle birds and insatiable squirrels (more on them below). A mild fall meant birds could find seeds and insects in the wild and were less interested.

So, I set up the feeder partially hidden under my awning and hoped for the best. Finally, the weather turned snowy and frigid. Suddenly, the feeder had visitors. First came the house finches, who live in a tree not 30 feet away.

Then came the dark-eyed juncos (aka “snowbirds”). While I often hear chickadees and goldfinches in the trees across the street, I’ve only seen one photo of a black-capped chickadee at the feeder.

While juncos are naturally ground feeders, they have no issue chasing finches off the trays to eat there. In fact, they have mostly displaced my resident house finches in the tree because they outnumber them. So, the feeder is both an observer and an influencer on the natural world. That’s the type of bird behavior you notice over a season.

Providing Avian Insights

The photo logs provide insight into bird interactions between (and among) species. There is a truth to “pecking order” and a complex rock-paper-scissors hierarchy among frequent feeder species. For instance, Eastern birders might learn that the house finch overtakes the purple finch, and the purple finch will bump the dark-eyed junco, but the junco outranks the house finch.

For context, my feeder setup is within view of a large window. So I can watch them at the feeder while I’m at home. But now I can watch all the action when I’m away from home, too. With a subscription, the app offers the ability to access a live view with sound from anywhere — even my bed. I might wake up to the twitter of “good mornings” or fights for positioning on the feeder and take a peek without getting up.

Positioning the Feeder

The FeatherSnap Scout Wi-Fi Solar Powered Smart Bird Feeder is best set up in a sunny, open space at head level or higher. It should also be at least 10 feet from tree limbs or structures so squirrels cannot leap onto it. For best results, you may want to experiment with facing it into or around the sun’s arc. Since the feeder is Wi-Fi enabled, you’ll also want to post it within range of your router.

Set-Up

Setting up the smart feeder is pretty straightforward. Once you charge the camera’s battery pack, you can pair it via Bluetooth with your smartphone’s app. The camera battery performed well through single-digit temperatures, and the lens was able to perform (and adjust) at dusk and midday.

The feeder’s roof has solar panels to help keep the battery going outside for weeks. Once I moved testing to my house, the feeder lived under an awning. There, it only needed recharging roughly once a week.

The camera can be difficult to remove. Eventually, I found a method of using my middle fingers to pull it from the top and bottom.

The feeder itself is made of a hard plastic with two feed compartments. With the press of a button, you can tilt open the roof and pour different seeds into each. You can even tell the app what type of seeds you put in which compartment.

Why? While there is certainly an overlap when using seed mixes, certain species will be more attracted to certain seeds than others. I used a songbird mix with millet, which the dark-eyed juncos and house finches appreciated.

Another mix included more sunflower seeds, dried fruit, and a few nuts. That mix can help attract species like cardinals, tufted titmice, and downy woodpeckers — depending on your location. Unfortunately, the squirrels also enjoy that blend.

FeatherSnap Scout’s Artificial Intelligence

The artificial intelligence behind this smart feeder is impressive. The companion app can suggest a few species based on the bird captured in a photo, which nudges birders to note the differences in similar-looking species.

I have talked to (and birded with) the ornithologist who helped train this AI. She said it got to where the AI was detecting birds in in-between states of plumage that might confuse birders more accustomed to those depicted in ID books in their full-grown and in-season plumages. It was better than the human eye.

For example, in the field, a migrating female redstart might not be in full plumage and can be confused for a yellow-rumped warbler (or even a Baltimore oriole). The AI feeder is more trained on “diagnostic” elements like size, telltale wing patches, and streaks on the belly or chest. The AI is also less prone to hopeful sightings of rare birds.

That said, the camera’s wide angle can distort birds perched at the edge of the feeder. I found that the AI needs pretty clear photos of birds, or else it will cast a wider net on potential species. For the most part, you get three snaps of a bird and can select from those to ID it.

At first, you may want to push notifications for every visitor, especially the first one. However, over time, I found that there was too much activity. So, I began checking the feed in the mornings and evenings.

With such attention to detail, I’d love to see this AI grow to differentiate species to the point where it might ignore sending push notifications of common visitors but alert the user to any new or first-of-season visitors. There are trail cams out there with this type of technology for deer. I assume this is where the niche (but not tiny) market of smart feeders is eventually headed.

Who Is the FeatherSnap Scout For?

As I alluded to at the start of this review, the AI aspect is aimed at beginner birders who want an assist in identifying birds. The app itself is great for taking live looks while away from home. Since my feeder was set up by a front door, it served as somewhat of a security doorbell, too, letting me know when mail and packages were delivered.

While birding is most popular during the spring and fall migrations, backyard feeding can continue year-round. Often, it takes on its highest value in the winter — when you’d rather watch from inside. Take away the aspect of seeing and logging a new bird, and the baseline of any feeder is enjoying your wild yet frequent visitors.

Reviewing the photo log at the end of the day can also be a moment of zen. You’ll surely grow tired of seeing the same birds sitting there. But with a quick scan through the photos, you’re looking for anything that stands out. Sometimes, that’s just a funny angle or an action shot of two birds vying for dominance. And as seasons change, you might notice your juncos have disappeared, and the wait for new visitors renews.

Editor’s note: Be sure to clean your bird feeder routinely to prevent the spread of diseases among the birds.

Squirrels Are the Worst: An Addendum

Simply put, this review was hampered and delayed by squirrels and the search for a proper place to test the feeder.

Ideally, you want to place any feeder about 14 feet from any branch, fence, or other jumping-off spot because squirrels will flock to the feeder well before more tentative birds. That space does not exist where I live, so rather than move to write this review, I had a friend set up the feeder in her wide open yard, but on a tree.

And then the squirrels found it. Attempts to keep it at bay proved futile. They overcame the metal wrapping around the tree below the feeder by jumping 10 feet from a shed. Sprinkling cayenne pepper over the seed trays, which doesn’t affect birds, prompted squirrels to chew away at the plastic to get to seeds not covered in the powder.

When I moved the feeder to my house under an awning, I just accepted it was a squirrel feeder for testing’s sake. They hog the feeder, and each morning, I have an hour of photos of them seemingly getting fatter with each capture.