As most of you know, I use 24/7 security cameras around my back yard and woods to view animal life...primarily deer, raccoons, squirrels and foxes, with an occasional opossum, armadillo and skunk.

My latest endeavor is to use a bird feeder with an attached camera. It only runs on smart phones and tablets, but the close-up bird activity is awesome when viewed on my iPad. My feeder camera is also powered by a small solar panel, if and when we ever get any sunshine. Go here to see such a feeder:
https://www.chewy.com/birdfy-smart-bird-feeder-motion/dp/1266910

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BB

That sounds awesome!

When it comes to birds you would have loved the house I rented in Florida. It was like my back yard was a bird sanctuary including Osprey, Horned Owl, Cedar Wax Wings during migration and hawks. Not to mention the Blue Jays, Doves and Cardinals. LOL! My roomie fed the local doves and the doves fed the hawks. Would have been great for your new camera and I hope to see some videos.

You, I'm sure, know the other birds I mentioned but possibly not the Cedar Wax Wings. They are just awesome beasties. Here is a shot of them in a bird bath outside of my living room window. They pull off being beautiful and, at the same time, looking evil. Obviously they sort of like playing in water.

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Jay, you are correct...I have never before seen the Wax Wing. And you are also correct about their looks...beautiful but evil. Thanks for the excellent photo.

I don't know my birds that well, and I'm hoping to learn more with my new feeder camera. The camera comes with an AI database of 6000 birds that is used to identify the bird(s) currently at the feeder.

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BB

My mother-in-law gave me a bird feeder with a camera for Christmas in 2023. The solar panel doesn't manage to keep the camera charged for more than a week in the winter, but can go longer in the summer. I enjoy grabbing some of the photos each week.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Neat photos, Steve. I am still learning how to use my camera. My charger is not working well because of all our cloudy weather...I'm hoping that will improve come Spring.

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BB

The solar panel is way too small on my feeder. If it was always in full sun it might manage to recharge the battery, but I basically need to charge it up manually by removing it from the feeder and bringing it inside. In fact, I need to remember to do that today again!

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I can't remove my camera from the feeder. I can remove the perch and the cover, but the camera itself is permanently housed within the feeder. So I have to bring the entire feeder in to charge the camera battery, which I have done once.

Steve, I am impressed! Not so much with your feeder, but with the fact that your mother-in-law gave it to you. Mine usually gave me a tie or an ugly sweater, lol.

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BB

She did very well with this gift and a few others in recent years. She enjoys shopping QVC and keeps an eye out for something interesting that I might like. There have been some meh gifts that I still thanked her profusely for, but this one and a few others have been wins.

The camera in mine if removable, thankfully. It is held in place with a magnetic charging attachment. It came with a special charging cable that is also magnetic, but the camera charging port is actually USB-C with an adapter plug inserted to allow for the magnetic connection. When I charge it manually, I remove that plug and use USB-C as it charges much faster that way.

I did remember to charge it today, by the way.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Steve, what brand/model camera do you have. Mine is a Birdfy Netveu AI Smart Camera. The camera seems to take really-good videos and photos, but the user documentation is not good at all. Thankfully the Netveu chat support staff responds quickly, but it takes a while for them to understand your problem. Most of my learning has been via YouTube videos on the internet.

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BB

Mine is a brand called Hello Birdie by some company called Limitless Innovations. I've not had reason to contact their support, so don't know how they do with support. The app is a bit annoying to use on the phone, but it works well enough.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"