Birdfy Nest Duo Review: My Own Private Nature Documentary

Birdfy Nest Duo 评测：我私人的自然纪录片

Rating: 8/10 评分：8/10

TIRED

• Birds like it. Both cameras stayed connected throughout the entire season.
• Good-quality, shareable 1080p HD video, including night vision.
• Remote control allows for troubleshooting without disturbing the birds.

不足之处

• 鸟儿们很喜欢它。两台摄像头在整个季节里都保持了稳定的连接。
• 高质量、易于分享的 1080p 高清视频，包含夜视功能。
• 远程控制功能可以在不打扰鸟儿的情况下进行故障排查。

TIRED

• App frequently mislabels nesting stages.
• Black exterior can absorb heat, leading to fatal temperatures in warmer climates.
• Cameras don’t capture every event.
• Some birds won’t like the metal drainage holes on the “floor.”

不足之处

• 应用程序经常错误标记筑巢阶段。
• 黑色外观容易吸热，在气候炎热的地区可能导致巢内温度过高，危及幼鸟生命。
• 摄像头无法捕捉到每一个瞬间。
• 有些鸟类可能不喜欢“地板”上的金属排水孔。

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Even though I’ve been a bird-watcher most of my life, nothing prepared me for the experience of witnessing—on my phone—the entire process of birds being born in my own backyard. 尽管我大半辈子都在观鸟，但没有什么能比得上在手机上亲眼见证自家后院鸟儿出生全过程的那种体验。

I’ve maintained a regular “dumb” nest box for years, the birthplace of generations of black-capped chickadees. I’ve seen them going in and out, but I always wondered what was happening in there, especially the year I opened up the box in the fall and found five deceased fledglings at the bottom. How could this have happened? I wondered. 多年来，我一直使用一个普通的“非智能”巢箱，它是几代黑顶山雀的出生地。我看着它们进进出出，但总是好奇里面发生了什么，特别是在有一年的秋天，我打开巢箱发现底部有五只死去的幼鸟。我当时想，这到底是怎么回事？

Thanks to the Birdfy Nest Duo smart nesting box and its built-in thermometer and hygrometer, I now at least have an educated guess. (The poor things likely overheated during an early season heat wave.) Being able to watch the entire nesting operation from all angles, starting with excavation and egg-laying and ending in hatching and fledging, has been one of the most educational and entertaining bird-watching experiences I have ever had, and something I’d recommend to anyone interested in birds, nature, or just life science in general. 多亏了 Birdfy Nest Duo 智能巢箱及其内置的温度计和湿度计，我现在至少有了合理的推测。（那些可怜的小家伙很可能是在早季的热浪中中暑了。）能够从各个角度观察整个筑巢过程——从挖掘和产卵，到孵化和离巢——是我经历过最具教育意义和娱乐性的观鸟体验之一。我向所有对鸟类、自然或生命科学感兴趣的人推荐这款产品。

Eye Spy

鹰眼观察

Birdfy makes three smart nest boxes in addition to the Duo. The original, the Birdfy Nest, has one camera—located inside the box—and can only hang from an eye hook screwed into the top. There’s also a version made out of solid fir in contrast to the others’ lightweight bamboo. I have also tested Birdfy’s artful Polygon, but persistent connection issues prevented me from using it this season. 除了 Duo，Birdfy 还生产另外三款智能巢箱。最初的 Birdfy Nest 只有一个位于箱内的摄像头，且只能通过顶部拧入的吊钩悬挂。此外还有一个实木冷杉版本，与其它轻质竹制版本形成对比。我还测试过 Birdfy 设计精美的 Polygon，但持续的连接问题使我本季无法使用它。

I have not tested the first two single-camera versions, but I can’t imagine not having a second camera outside the hole to see who’s unexpectedly poking their head in. (At one point in my testing, it was a confused flicker; another, a curious starling—this is when I learned chickadees can hiss). It’s also critical to be able to pole-mount the box to keep it away from predators. 我没有测试过前两款单摄像头版本，但我无法想象没有第二个摄像头在洞口外观察是谁在探头探脑。（在测试过程中，有一次是一只困惑的扑动鴷，另一次是一只好奇的椋鸟——这时我才知道山雀也会发出嘶嘶声）。此外，能够将巢箱安装在杆子上以远离捕食者也至关重要。

The Nest Duo is substantial—16 inches tall and about 8 pounds—with one 1080p HD camera facing the nest entry hole on the exterior and another tucked discreetly inside the nest box itself. There’s also an internal hygrometer (humidity) and thermometer (temperature) that show readings on the live view in Birdfy’s easy-to-use app. There are four easy-to-install, screw-on entry hole sizes for different species, from 0.9 inches for wrens up to 2 inches for starlings or bluebirds, along with corresponding metal predator guards to prevent chewing. The entire side of the box opens with a latch for easy cleaning and access. Nest Duo 体积不小——高 16 英寸，重约 8 磅——外部有一个 1080p 高清摄像头对着巢穴入口，另一个则隐蔽地安装在巢箱内部。内部还配有湿度计和温度计，读数会显示在 Birdfy 易于使用的应用程序的实时画面中。它提供了四种易于安装的旋入式入口尺寸，适用于不同物种，从鹪鹩的 0.9 英寸到椋鸟或蓝知更鸟的 2 英寸不等，并配有相应的金属防捕食者护罩以防止啃咬。巢箱的一侧可以通过锁扣完全打开，方便清洁和维护。

In the app, each screen capture appears as a split-screen image, which you can tap to view 20-second videos (with audio) of both the inside and the outside of the box. The videos are immediately downloadable and shareable—no subscription is needed. 在应用程序中，每个屏幕截图都以分屏图像显示，点击即可查看巢箱内外 20 秒的视频（带音频）。视频可立即下载并分享，无需订阅。

The screen captures work much like one of Birdfy’s smart bird feeders, but with images shunted to sections labeled “Prelude,” “Nesting,” “Brooding,” “Nestling,” “Fledgling,” and “End.” There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for what process the app thought was happening at the time (for example, if a nestling was simply turned around, the app asked if it should label it as “Fledgling”), but this story format was easy enough to ignore onscreen. 屏幕截图的功能与 Birdfy 的智能喂鸟器非常相似，但图像会被分类到标有“序幕”、“筑巢”、“孵化”、“幼鸟”、“离巢”和“结束”的部分。应用程序对当前过程的判断似乎毫无逻辑可言（例如，如果一只幼鸟只是转了个身，应用程序就会询问是否将其标记为“离巢”），但这种故事格式在屏幕上很容易被忽略。

House Hunters

筑巢猎人

In March of this year, at the beginning of nesting season on the West Coast, I installed the Duo with the 1-inch entry hole on a pole stand and mounted the included solar panel below the box with hose clamps. Black-capped chickadees were consistently interested, popping in and looking around, but something was preventing them from staking a claim. It took me a while to realize they were looking askance at the holes on the metal tray “floor,” which is perforated for drainage. The idea is that this tray can be inserted into one of a series of slots to increase or decrease the nest cavity depth, depending on your local species’ preference. 今年 3 月，在西海岸筑巢季节开始时，我将带有 1 英寸入口的 Duo 安装在杆架上，并用软管夹将附带的太阳能电池板安装在箱子下方。黑顶山雀一直很感兴趣，进进出出地四处张望，但有什么东西阻止了它们定居。我花了一段时间才意识到，它们是在斜眼看着金属托盘“地板”上的孔，这些孔是为了排水而设计的。这个托盘的设计初衷是可以插入一系列插槽中，以根据当地鸟类的偏好增加或减少巢穴深度。

To cover the holes, I ended up taping on a square I cut from a moss mat left over from one of my son’s school projects. While this was probably not the most environmentally friendly choice (and could have impeded drainage, had the box ever leaked), one chickadee loved it, starting the excavation process within hours of the mat’s installation. This operation took about four to five days, after which another week was taken up by gathering moss, and finally a layer of fur. (I was never sure why this was, until I saw a similar type of “fur” on the baby birds’ heads—it’s camouflage for when they have their heads down asleep!) 为了盖住这些孔，我最后用从儿子学校项目剩下的苔藓垫上剪下的一块方块贴了上去。虽然这可能不是最环保的选择（如果箱子漏水，可能会阻碍排水），但一只山雀非常喜欢它，在垫子安装后的几小时内就开始了挖掘工作。这个过程大约持续了四到五天，之后又花了一周时间收集苔藓，最后铺上一层皮毛。（我一直不确定这是为什么，直到我看到幼鸟头上也有类似的“皮毛”——原来这是它们低头睡觉时的伪装！）

The mother chickadee laid seven eggs and incubated them while the father chickadee brought her a succession of moths and fat green inchworms. All of the eggs ended up hatching, but curiously, only four babies remained at the time of fledging. 山雀妈妈产下了七枚卵并进行孵化，而山雀爸爸则不断为她带来飞蛾和肥硕的绿色尺蠖。所有的卵最终都孵化了，但奇怪的是，在离巢时只剩下四只幼鸟。

One evening (both cameras’ night vision capabilities are excellent), I saw the mom carry one of the baby birds, who appeared to be alive, out. 一天晚上（两台摄像头的夜视功能都很出色），我看到妈妈把其中一只看起来还活着的幼鸟叼了出去。