Mike shared a new product idea with me the other day. He spends far more time online than I do, so stumbling upon interesting things online is one of the things he does.
This was a potential new product that is currently on Kickstarter. It’s a bird feeder. But not just any bird feeder. This bird feeder has a camera. The bird lands on the feeder, starts to have lunch, and the camera takes it’s picture. It then goes into a database, identifies the bird, and sends you a picture of the bird, and tells you what the bird is.
At first glance, it seems like a really cool idea, even though I try to avoid most smartphone apps. I just don’t like the fact that everyone, everywhere seems to be collecting data on us.
Like last week, when I wrote about the new Lego Colosseum. I googled it to make sure I had the right number of pieces and that sort of thing. Ever since, I have been getting adds popping up for Lego. I like Lego, but I don’t need to hear about it 24/7.
So if you got this thing, would you start getting mysterious adds for specials on bird seed? Or start hearing from birds near you that wanted to get together for casual bird watching? And what happens if you like a picture of a particular bird? Would the other birds get upset? Or just try to keep one upping each other in the Insta-bird game?
But there is another big concern I have which a device such as this. I have fed birds. Not as much over the last few years with the parasite thing going on over the summers, but I know what happens. Sure you get a few birds showing up, but you also get other things. Like squirrels.
Would the squirrel confuse the app, as it tries to figure out what kind of bird it is? Would you be able to name individual squirrels, so the notification you get on your phone would come up and say “Bob, the squirrel, is at your feeder.”
And what about raccoons? Can this thing be trained to recognize thieving trash pandas and hit them with a quick jolt of electricity to get them off the feeder?
This feeder does seem like an interesting idea and could be well worth the investment. But I can see potential improvements before it ever hits the market. Still, close up pictures of every bird that pays a visit would be very nice to have.
Hope they remember to comb their feathers.
