This smart bird feeder captures more of my backyard drama

Since moving to South Carolina’s Lowcountry, I’ve been spellbound by the myriad of beautiful birds that share the coast with us — ospreys raising their babies in towering nests beside the road to my daughter’s school, roseate spoonbills wading in the marsh on my morning walks, eagles circling over my son’s tennis matches, and a constant parade of songbirds through my backyard. The challenge, as every birder knows, lies in catching these moments. And for that, a smart bird feeder is a fabulous tool.These use a small, motion-activated camera embedded in a feeder to capture photos and video of birds visiting your backyard, which you can watch in an app on your phone. Most offer AI-powered bird identification, presenting the species along with a cute clip. No more standing motionless with binos on your porch, balancing a Sibley Guide; the bird life comes directly to you. It’s basically OnlyFans for twitchers.7Verge Score$220The GoodWide field of view shows more avian activityLarge seed hopperExcellent battery lifeFlexible modular designOption of local storageThe BadImage quality not as good as the competition’sAI identification spottyMessy appShorter free recordings and cloud storageI’ve tested the staple in the space, the Birdbuddy Pro — and loved it so much I bought them for my entire family last Christmas. Then, at CES this year, I spotted the Aura Smart Bird Feeder from Coolfly and was intrigued by its larger size and promise of new, alternative views of my feathered friends.Birdbuddy is like the finished photo; Aura is behind the scenes of the shootUnlike most smart bird feeders, the Aura places its camera beside the feeder instead of inside it, giving you a wider, more natural view of the birds. Its 4MP sensor offers up to 2.5K video through a 150-degree wide-angle lens. It’s much bigger than most smart bird feeders and has to be mounted on a pole or structure, so it could be tricky to find a spot for it in your garden. Still, the overall design is attractive, with a slate-blue metal frame.1/3The Aura is modular; you can choose which side of the feeder to place the camera and add accessories to the platform for more feathered fun — including a fruit fork, hummingbird feeder, and a snack/water container.The Aura comes with two built-in solar panels to keep the battery charged, and although it’s expensive at $290, that’s less than the current $339 list price for the Birdbuddy Pro with solar (there’s a non-solar version for $189.99). The Aura includes automatic AI bird identification and higher-resolution video without a subscription, while Birdbuddy reserves some AI and premium video features for its paid plan, which starts at $70 annually.The overall package is impressive. The Aura has a larger seed feeder, significantly better battery life, and a wider field of view than the Birdbuddy. I got to see a daddy cardinal feeding his baby at the feeder, along with several less sweet avian squabbles — it can be like The Real Housewives of Bird World in my backyard. I also had more visits from larger birds, including a mourning dove, that could more easily perch on the bigger platform. Squirrels were also slightly less of a problem thanks to the metal grille that protects the seeds.But Birdbuddy’s AI proved more accurate in my testing, and on its free tier, you still get AI-powered identification, you just have to do it manually in the app rather than automatically getting the bird’s species in the clip. Birdbuddy also stores longer clips for more days for free — though it lacks the Aura’s local microSD storage option.While I did enjoy Aura’s wider view, its image quality isn’t as good as Birdbuddy’s. Testing them both at 1080p and 2K, I found Birdbuddy’s footage consistently crisper, while Aura introduced occasional artifacting and wasn’t as detailed. I also preferred the close-up images the Birdbuddy delivers, because they’re more intimate and unusual than those the Aura captured. The Aura can switch between portrait and landscape views in the app. But the portrait just looks like a digital crop and was less sharp, so I kept it in the full landscape view.The app is the weakest aspect of the Aura; it’s busy, unintuitive, and takes several taps to get to the full feed of videos of your visitors. Also, some clips started with an empty bird feeder, and I had to keep watching to see what (if anything) was there. This isn’t a security camera; it’s supposed to delight rather than document everything. Birdbuddy is selective about what it shows you and more reliable for sharing high-quality visits with good images. Birdbuddy does have a “frenzy mode” if you want to capture every visitor, but it definitely kills the battery life.The Coolfly app takes a bit of getting used to as it’s cluttered and not very user-friendly.It takes several taps to get to this feed of bird videos.The Aura’s battery life is impressive. I’ve had it installed for almost two months, and the battery is still fully charged, thanks to its two built-in solar panels. That’s better than most security cameras I’ve tested. The Birdbuddy, which also has solar panels and was in the same spot in my yard, had to be recharged three times.Aura’s connectivity was also more reliable for me; it consistently loaded livestreams and captured most every visit. I use a mesh Wi-Fi system, which Birdbuddy acknowledges can cause issues. For me, that meant occasionally going offline, videos failing to load, and missing some action, although things have improved recently. The only problem I had with Aura was that when I moved the camera to the other side or adjusted its position, it stopped recording consistently. At first, moving it back fixed the issue, then turning it on and off again after repositioning it had it up and running reliably again.1/3The large feed container requires fewer refills.Overall, Birdbuddy offers a more polished experience, but Aura’s better battery life and less frequent feed refills are compelling. Which works best for you depends on whether you want a more curated backyard birding experience or just want to capture as much activity as possible. In terms of which is better for seeing the birds, think of it like this: The Birdbuddy is like the finished photo; the Aura is behind the scenes of the shoot. True birders will probably want both!If you’re considering the Birdbuddy, it’s worth noting that the redesigned Birdbuddy 2 launches later this year with a larger hopper, wider field of view, and a lower $200 price.Photos and videos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The VergeFollow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jennifer Pattison Tuohy