When an XDEV tinkerer like our Timo builds a birdhouse on the balcony, you can be sure that it's not one off the shelf.

Not only that he sawed, sanded and assembled all parts of the bird feeder himself in loving handwork (yes, even the roof shingles!). Timo also incorporated a little Internet of Things (IoT) gimmick.

A solar panel on the roof powers a battery, which in turn powers a Raspberry Zero W. Sensors now send the current humidity and temperature to a database in the network every hour. And a small motion detector triggers a photo as soon as a hungry, winged guest visits the bird house. Even at night evidence photos are no problem, as the camera has no infrared filter. By the way, all the necessary mounting parts for the hardware come from the 3D printer.

The visitor frequency speaks for itself: the birds love their new food source and leave behind a veritable chaos of grains. And we are once again impressed by Timo's DIY qualities!