Coolfly’s Aura smart bird feeder review: Most birds are fine

Ever since I arrived in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, I’ve been amazed by the myriad of beautiful birds that share the beach with us – ospreys raising their young in high nests along the road to my daughter’s school, spoonbills roaming the meadows on my morning walks, eagles circling my son’s tennis matches, and hummingbirds. The difficulty, as any birder knows, lies in capturing these moments. And for that reason, a smart bird feeder is a great tool.

This uses a small, mobile camera mounted in the feeder to capture photos and videos of the birds that visit your backyard, which you can view in an app on your phone. Many offer AI-powered bird identification, displaying the species along with a beautiful video clip. No more standing motionless with binos on your porch, directing the Sibley Guide; the life of the bird comes directly to you. Basically OnlyFans for the twitchers.

I’ve tried the fixed one in spaceand Birdbuddy Pro – and I loved them so much I bought them for my whole family last Christmas. So, on CES this yearI saw Aura Smart Bird Feeder from Coolfly and I was impressed by its great size and the promise of new ideas for my messenger friends.

Unlike smart bird feeders, the Aura places its camera on the side of the feeder instead of inside it, giving you a wide, natural view of the birds. Its 4MP sensor delivers 2.5K video through a 150-degree wide-angle lens. It is much larger than most smart bird feeders and has to be placed on a tree or pole, so it can be difficult to find in your garden. However, both designs are beautiful, with slate-blue metal.

The Aura it comes with two solar panels to keep the battery full, and while it’s expensive at $290, it’s still less than the current $339 price of Birdbuddy Pro and solar (there is a sunless version for $189.99). The Aura also includes AI bird identification and high-quality video without a subscription, while Birdbuddy keeps some of the AI ​​and high-quality video on its premium plan, which starts at $70 per year.

The whole package is impressive. The Aura has a larger seed feeder, better battery life, and more features than the Birdbuddy. I saw a cardinal feeding her young at the feeder, along with a couple of little bird squabbles – it could be like The Real Housewives of Bird World in my backyard. Large birds, including a mourning dove, were easily accessible to me, which slept easily on the large platform. Squirrels were also a bit of a problem because of the metal grille that protected the crops.

But Birdbuddy’s AI proved accurate in my testing, and in its free version, you still get AI recognition, you just have to do it. manually in the program instead of just copying the species of the bird in the clip. Birdbuddy also stores longer recordings for more than a few days for free – although it doesn’t have the Aura’s microSD storage option.

While I enjoy the Aura’s design, the design isn’t as good as the Birdbuddy’s. Testing them both at 1080p and 2K, I found Birdbuddy’s graphics to be consistent, while the Aura’s introduced artifacts at times and not much. I also like the close-up photos that Birdbuddy provides, as they are more natural and unusual than what Aura captured. The Aura can switch between modes and modes in the app. But the image just looked like a digital crop and wasn’t very sharp, so I kept it in full screen mode.

The software is very weak on Aura; it’s busy, it’s clunky, and it takes multiple taps to get to all of your visitors’ videos. Also, some clips started with an empty bird feeder, and I had to look to see if (if any) it was there. This is not a security camera; it’s supposed to entertain rather than document anything. Birdbuddy chooses what it shows you and is trusted to share high-quality tours and great photos. Birdbuddy has a “crazy mode” if you want to record every guest, but it kills battery life.

The Aura’s battery life is amazing. I’ve had it installed for about two months, and the battery is still full, thanks to its built-in solar panels. It’s better than most security cameras I’ve tried. Birdbuddy, which also has solar panels and was in the same spot in my yard, had to be recharged three times.

The Aura connection was also reliable for me; It’s always full of livestreams and filming a lot of tours. I use a Wi-Fi network, which Birdbuddy accepts it can cause problems. For me, that means sometimes I’m offline, videos fail to load, and I’m out of action, although things have changed recently. The only problem I had with the Aura was that when I moved the camera to another side or changed its position, it stopped recording continuously. At first, moving it back fixed the problem, then turning it on and off again after reinstalling it was working reliably again.

Overall, the Birdbuddy offers a very polished experience, but the Aura’s better battery life and frequent feed back are compelling. What works best for you depends on whether you want to have backyard birds or just want to capture as many photos as possible. As for what’s best for bird watching, think of it this way: Birdbuddy is like a finished picture; Aura is behind the shot. Real birds will probably want both!

If you’re considering Birdbuddy, it’s worth knowing birdbuddy 2 remastered it launches later this year with a bigger hopper, a better look, and a lower price tag of $200.

Photos and videos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge