so last week i caught myself googling “best birdseed brands” and that was when i knew something had shifted. like when you’re a kid and you think adults who watch birds are the most boring people alive and then suddenly you’re late 30s and wondering if cardinals prefer sunflower seeds or millet. what the hell man.
anyway i blame this harymor bird feeder with camera thing i stumbled on.
found it here if you’re curious:
i wasn’t even looking for bird stuff. i was trying to find a security camera because my packages keep disappearing but somehow the algorithm decided i needed to see this bird surveillance system instead. and now i can’t stop thinking about it.
about bird watching
look i’m not a bird guy okay. i don’t own binoculars. i don’t know bird names beyond like… robin. blue jay. the red one. but something about this camera feeder thing got under my skin.
maybe it’s because it has ai that identifies over 10,000 bird species which feels excessive. like how many birds are there really? probably not 10,000. feels like they’re padding the numbers.
but then i read the reviews and people are losing their minds over this thing. one person said their house finch visited 113 times. they’re tracking individual bird visits like it’s a loyalty program.
why this is somehow about mortality
here’s the thing nobody tells you about getting older. one day you’re making fun of your dad for getting excited about a new bird at the feeder and the next day you’re reading amazon reviews about bird cameras at midnight.
it’s not even about the birds really. it’s about the slow horrifying realization that you’re turning into the exact person you swore you’d never become.
the harymor has 2k video quality and night vision. it sends notifications to your phone when birds show up. there’s a subscription service for a few dollars per month that gives you detailed bird facts. and the worst part is i’m sitting here like”that’s actually pretty reasonable.
my dad used to wake up at 5am just to watch birds eat. i thought he was insane. now i’m reading about how this camera has dual solar panels so you never have to charge it and i’m sat here thinking wow that’s convenient.
it holds 2 liters of birdseed. it’s weatherproof. it has motion detection that apparently also works as a security camera which circles back to my original package thief problem.
why i’m probably going to buy this stupid thing
the truth is i’ve been watching my neighbor’s bird feeder for weeks now. not in a creepy way. it’s just visible from my kitchen window and sometimes there’s this fat blue jay that shows up and bullies all the smaller birds and i’ve started rooting for the little ones.
last week some bird figured out how to eat upside down to avoid the blue jay and i literally cheered. out loud. alone in my kitchen.
so yeah maybe i need the harymor bird feeder. maybe i need to know that the cardinal’s name is actually steve and he visits every day at 3:17pm. maybe i need push notifications about bird drama. maybe this is just what happens when you work from home too long and your social circle becomes whatever wildlife wanders into your peripheral vision.
the reviews keep mentioning how it brings families together. sharing bird videos. getting excited about rare sightings. and part of me wants to mock that but another part remembers being eight years old and my dad calling me outside because there was a woodpecker and how his face lit up.
maybe that’s what this is really about. not the 10,000 species identification or the 2k video or the dual solar panels. maybe it’s about having something small and stupid to care about. something that shows up every day and eats seeds and doesn’t ask for anything except maybe don’t let the squirrels take over.
i don’t know man. what’s next. am i gonna start caring about lawn care. am i gonna have opinions about mulch. probably.
anyway if you’re also slowly morphing into your parents and want to track bird visits, the harymor thing seems pretty solid. waterproof. good camera. nice customer service. reasonable subscription. plus apparently it doubles as a security camera so maybe i’ll finally catch my package thief. unless it’s the raccoon. in which case i guess we’re even.
best price i saw
*aff link (if this makes me 12 cents, i’ll tell everyone i’m in the bird surveillance industry)