Bird lover feeder +4

The picture quality of the camera is good but the app itself is limited and poor quality. 1. Duplicate photos are saved in the feed, 3 or 4 copies in some cases. 2. The optional SD card contains saved photos that cannot be read independently on my Mac or any other device. When opening any of the jpg files on the card. The files are reported to be of unknown format (perhaps encrypted). There are also media files on the card containing video which can be converted to standard media formats using a utility called ffmpeg. 3. The detection of the SD card is erratic. Sometimes it is detected and sometimes not. Multiple cards have been tried. 4. Oftentimes I see the message ‘Server Error’ when accessing the content feed. Usually refreshing it two or three times will resolve it. It is not a problem related to networking. 5. Setting options using the settings dialog (e.g. notification alerts) will not usually be saved. Usually five attempts are required.

The user interface for this app is not intuitive and the features are limited.

1) You cannot identify birds from the motion detected pictures. You can only identify them from a live feed.

2) Only still photos are recorded from motion alerts. Not video. It appears you can only manually record video?

3) Navigating the app is confusing. There appears to be a global top-level interface with all the same features as the sub-level interface specific to the bird feeder. But if you try to make changes at the top level, it gives an error. I’m not even sure why this top-level configuration interface exists.

4) There are a ton of false motion alerts, even on the medium sensitivity setting. I’m talking hundreds. On low, the motion alerts never trigger. Even had a squirrel on the feeder with no alert.

5) The solar panel is on the same side as the camera. Therefore, to get sunlight on the panel, the camera must also face into the sun. I think this is what triggers the false motion alerts (cloud drifts to block sun, shadows being cast, brightness changes, etc).

It’s a great idea, but the solar panel either needs to be detachable, or on the opposite side as the camera. The app needs a lot of work. The functions need to be imported.

To preface, this is still new to me. We have had it installed two days. It is working well and I like the AI for bird identification but limited since it only seems to work for live video. I also believe, since the notifications can distinguish “motion” or “bird”, I should be able to select if I want both types of notification or just “bird”.
The camera is very clear and once we were able to figure the right camera orientation- maybe a removable sticker or reference in the manual to indicate “top” would be helpful- setting up connection to the network was easy.
Also, I would be willing to pay a premium if I could configure specific varieties of birds for notification! I have a lot of sparrows and cardinals but want to see tanagers and warblers :)