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It started off promising enough. Dozens of tiny, colorful birds were drawn to my garden just a few weeks after I mounted a $350 $269 Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro. \u201cLooks like Great Tit!\u201d read the first AI-driven alert sent to my phone. \u201cLooks like Eurasian Blue Tit!\u201d read another. I chuckled, still waiting for adulthood to kick in.<\/p>\n
This went on for days. Hundreds of miniature tits came to snack on expensive sunflower seeds already husked. They\u2019d skulk about in nearby trees before flittering in to grab a single seed to be safely enjoyed in the canopy above.<\/p>\n
I took great delight in my new house guests. I admired them in crisp 4K HDR video recordings. I looked for unique markings in the hope of naming my new feral pets. I clicked deeper into the Kiwibit app to read about my visitors\u2019 migration habits, where they nest, and what they like to eat. It was all going swell until he<\/em> arrived.<\/p>\n \u201cLooks like Common Wood Pigeon!\u201d came the alert. All I saw was a battleship-gray blob obscuring the live camera feed. The winged rat was so fat and imposing that he blocked the lens. Ugh, no, go back to the tourists!<\/p>\n In mild panic, I triggered the feeder\u2019s Nuisance Animal Alarm, a feature typically reserved for squirrels and the like. The pigeon tensed, looked around, but wasn\u2019t deterred by the audible siren that was surely annoying my neighbors. Soon it went back to gorging on the haute cuisine purchased for more refined guests. It ate and ate and ate. For 15 minutes, it ate until I walked outside and shooed it away.<\/p>\n Thereafter, that pigeon, or pigeons<\/em> (who can tell) moved in. They\u2019d perch for 30 minutes or more, slamming their faces into the seed pile with the clumsy enthusiasm of a tween bobbing for apples. Mice arrived below to feast on the spoils. Admitting defeat, I dismounted the expensive bird feeder and shoved it into a closet.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not mad at Kiwibit. The \u201cBird Feeder 2 Pro 4K AI Camera with Solar Panel (Lifetime AI Included)\u201d I tested was a joy to use, until it wasn\u2019t. That\u2019s not Kiwibit\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been tempted to buy a smart bird feeder, I\u2019d suggest starting with something simple, inexpensive, and without AI instead of going all in on day one \u2014 you can\u2019t return a used feeder just because it attracts pests.<\/p>\n