Bringing the Backyard Birdlife Closer: Birdfy Ebony Feeder & Nest Duo
Following up on our Birdfy Bamboo Feeder Mini review, we bring you two complementary wooden birding products from Birdfy, the Feeder Ebony and Nest Duo.
tl;dr
The Birdfy Feeder Ebony and Nest Duo offer distinct smart birdwatching experiences: the Feeder Ebony is a more refined, solar-integrated feeding station with one 1080p camera and a 5000mAh battery for monitoring feeding activity, although its plastic perch is a weak point. The Nest Duo is a heavy, dual-camera birdhouse (interior and exterior 1080p cameras) with a separate solar panel and a larger 9000mAh battery, designed for the potential, and amazing, up-close observation of nesting and hatching, despite some minor internal build flaws. Both connect easily via the Birdfy app, but the optional AI bird recognition service was only moderately accurate with Australian birds, yet proved useful for more granular, specific notifications. Ultimately, the Feeder Ebony is a solid, aesthetically pleasing feeder camera, while the Nest Duo offers the unique, premium opportunity to witness the circle of life inside a birdhouse.
Unboxing and Effortless Setup: Accessories Included
Both the Feeder Ebony and Nest Duo come neatly boxed and packaged securely. Other than the Ebony Feeder not coming with a charging cable, both products come with a cornucopia of mounting accessories. With the included accessories, both the Nest and the Ebony Feeder can be mounted to poles or affixed to walls. While the Feeder has a solar panel built into its roof, the Nest comes with a separate solar panel along with its own mounting hardware. All screws/wall anchors needed are supplied with both products and they even come with wall mount templates which is a nice addition. Beyond the usual Quick Start guides and Manuals, the Nest also comes with a small screw driver and mounting strap for additional support.
Birdfy Feeder Ebony: Sleek Design and Built-in Solar
The design of the Ebony Feeder is neat and clean with some updates from the previously reviewed Bamboo Feeder Mini. Most notably, the exterior of the camera is curved and has a more modern appearance. On the camera’s front face is a light sensor beneath which lies the main 1080p camera along with an LED light. Within its curved housing, the camera features a 5000mAh rechargeable battery. At the top is a small magnet to keep it in place within the Feeder housing while the rear features the connectivity and power buttons hidden beneath two weather resistant rubber flaps. A MicroSD card slot is also hidden behind these flaps but it is non functional by design. Rounding out the rear is a small speaker grille as well as the all important QR code needed to get the camera up and running.
Once installed, the camera sits in a central cubby-hole made from transparent plastic and is secured via a small magnetic bolt. At a glance, the magnetic system doesn’t seem like it would hold but in our testing we found it to be adequate and we had no issues with it. Inside the cubby-hole is a white USB-C Cable that connects the camera to the built in roof mounted solar panel making for a very neat setup.
The Feeder housing itself is made from wood with a largely natural beech look, save for the the black painted roof. The roof is opened to replenish the feeder with seeds and is secured with a small metal latch on the right-hand side. The seed bin holds approximately 1.5kg of bird seed which should keep the avian visitors eating for a while. Empty, the Feeder Ebony weighs just under 1.6kg and appears quite durable. While the housing is solid, the included perch leaves a little to be desired. The perch is made of plastic and feels rather flimsy and once attached to the feeder, seems like it may not be able to hold heavier birds. While we had no issues with the perch during testing, it’s plastic design doesn’t inspire longevity.
The Ebony Feeder looks great in the garden and with the solar panel built in, it reduces the clutter of needed an externally cabled a solar panel.
Birdfy Nest Duo: Dual Cameras for Inside and Out
Like the Ebony Feeder, the Nest Duo housing also feels sturdy and at 3.4kg has some heft to it. Featuring a design similar to the Feeder Ebony, the Nest Duo has a natural wood look offset with a black roof and side. The front of the Nest has a small hole for birds to enter which can be exchanged with (included) larger or smaller apertures, depending on the birds you want to attract. The right face features a side facing camera that protrudes out to capture birds arriving and leaving the nest.
A large mounting plate dominates the rear of the Nest Duo with the other sides being largely unremarkable. The top has two layers with the top most layer being coated in black, providing a weather barrier for a secondary top which has small vent holes to the Nest Duo’s interior. The right-hand side of the Nest opens out to reveal a large nesting cavity for the birds, protected by a sheet of Perspex. On the bottom of the nest is a metal grille, and small cut-outs can be seen beneath the entry hole to help birds climb in and out.
On the interior ceiling of the nest is a removable shelf which houses a control box fitted with a large wifi antenna. Both the interior and exterior 1080p cameras connect to this control unit via weatherproofed USB-C plugs. Like all other Birdfy camera’s we’ve seen, a power button and USB-C charging port (and non functional microSD slot) is also included behind weather proof rubber flaps.
Despite being a sturdy unit, the Nest Duo’s construction was less impressive than the Nest Ebony: The internal ceiling seems to have been mounted a little skew-whif, resulting in poor alignment of the side door, and while this didn’t hamper the unit’s use, it did detract somewhat from it’s overall aesthetic.
The Nest Duo has no perches to attach, but some minor assembly was required to position the side camera. This was as easy as removing some packing tape, swinging the camera into position and then using the included screws and screw driver, fixing it in place. Easy.
App Pairing and Usage Experience (Birdfy iOS/Android)
After charging all the cameras with mains power, we pressed proceeded to register both the Feeder Ebony and Nest Duo with the Birdfy iOS app. To do this we switched the cameras on via the physical button hidden behind the weather proof flaps and then tapped the plus icon on the app. The whole process was very easy and following the on screen instructions, we scanned the camera QR code and then scanned a digital QR code from our phone on the camera we were registering.
During the whole process a number of voice messages let us know what was happening (Feeder Ebony only) and after a firmware update, we were good to go. The whole process took less than five minutes and after the products were paired with our app, a short video demonstrated how to physically fit the cameras. The pairing process is one of the best we’ve seen and everything just worked.
While the Ebony Feeder camera is easily removed, the Nest Due required a little more thought in that it requires the removal of the interior shelf, but it wasn’t difficult by any stretch.
While we attempted to entice birds into our nest, during our testing we unfortunately had no visitors which may be due to the season or our limited location choices. We will keep the Nest Duo live and should we have a bird family join us in the near future, we will update the review accordingly. To show the image quality of the cameras in the meantime, we staged the included images and videos – Yes, that’s a fake lorikeet!
Using the app, the Nest Duo cameras can be viewed both individually and in tandem, changing views with a swipe. The picture quality was adequate but as we were at the limit of our wifi’s signal, the video was sometimes reduced to conserve bandwidth. Unlike the Feeder Ebony, the Nest Duo also reports humidity and temperature on the live video feed which was neat.
In contrast, we placed the Feeder Ebony up where we had our Bamboo Feeder Mini placed and it took the bird life under a few hours to re-discover the delicious Australian native birdmix we had prepared. Over the course of our testing, we had a number of birds visit although by far the most frequent visitors were the Spotted Turtle Dove. The image quality was good and on par with what we had experienced with both the Bamboo Feeder Mini and also the Nest Duo.
While the overall build quality was similar, compared to the Bamboo Feeder Mini we tested previously, the seed compartment and lid seemed to be more secure overall and the design seemed to be a little more refined. It certainly looked great in the garden and while we have our reservations about the plastic perch, the wildlife seemed to really like the whole setup!
Since we first used the Birdfy app, it has received a number of incremental updates and its user interface and general use remains simple and largely intuitive. The app allows you to access all your cameras live and also access to recordings, known as moments.
While a subscription to the AI identification service isn’t mandatory, it does bring some neat advantages. Firstly, the subscription will do its best to identify the birds that visit your Birdfy products. We found it a little hit and miss for identification but where the subscription comes in very handy is in the notifications it can provide. Without a subscription notifications are either off or triggered by any motion. While this motion sensitivity can be dialled in, the subscription service allows for notifications to be more granular. For example, we have set our cameras to notify us about birds/squirrels only. You can even set it to send notification only when new or rare birds appear. The AI subscription service is locked to a product and and can be purchased monthly ($10AUD), yearly ($100AUD) or as a single lifetime payment ($150AUD).
Beyond this, the app can categorise and provide an overview of your avian visitors and through their community section, you can share and view other Birdfy user cameras around the world. If this wasn’t enough, you can even share your livestreams and moments privately with friends and family.
Beyond seeing (and sharing) your own moments, you can also view other users videos too. The app also collects data on your visitors, and using the built in AI identification system (which can be purchased as a monthly or upfront lifetime subscription), can tell you which species of birds visited and how often.
SELECTED SPECS
Birdfy Feeder Ebony
Cameras: 1 – 1080p
Battery: 5000mAh Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery
Night Vision: Infrared
Solar Panel: Built in
Water Proof Rating: IP66
Audio: Two Way (Speaker and Microphone)
Material: China-fir
Warranty: 2 Years
Birdfy Nest Duo
Cameras: 2 – 2MP and 1080p
Battery: 9000mAh Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery
Night Vision: Infrared and White Light
Solar Panel: 5W
Water Proof Rating: IP66
Audio: One way (Microphone only)
Material: Bamboo
Warranty: 2 Years
For a full list of technical specifications, please visit Birdfy’s Nest Duo and Feeder Ebony product pages.
Conclusion: Which Birdfy Smart Birding Product is Right for You?
Both the Birdfy Feeder Ebony and Nest Duo are great options for adding to your monitoring and capture of birdlife. Despite some build complaints, the Nest Duo in particular is a great way to potentially see the miracle of life up close, watching birds not only build their nest in real time but also watch eggs hatch and grow – Such an amazing thing to be able to do!
The Feeder Ebony too is a solid product and while we liked the previously reviewed Bamboo Feeder Mini, the Feeder Ebony just felt a little more evolved and aesthetically pleasing. And while convenient for granular notifications, the AI bird recognition continues to be a bit hit and miss with our Australian wildlife.
The Birdfy Nest Duo and Birdfy Feeder Ebony are both available direct from Birdfy for $204 and $467AUD accordingly.
