Bird Feeder Shopping Guide for Gardeners

Use these tips to choose the right bird feeder for your garden to keep the birds safe, happy, and well fed.

Ready to fill your feeders? See How to Choose the Right Birdseed And Avoid Waste and How to Attract Birds to Your Feeder.

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How to Choose a Bird Feeder

Did you know caterpillars are a vital food source for many bird species? That’s why, as gardeners and stewards of the earth, we have to not only grow the plants the caterpillars need to survive but accept that fact that the caterpillars must eat plant leaves to survive. Left to it, they will become butterflies or moths (pollinators) or lunch for baby birds—all important in the circle of life.

This lists various plants butterflies must have to survive if you’d like to do more in your garden.

Knowing the importance of bugs for birds, providing safe and suitable natural habitat should be at the top of our must-do garden list.

Feeders should be regarded as a supplemental, non-essential food source and only used if unlikely to attract bears or cause other issues like rat infestations. Lovely thought, I know.

If you are shopping for bird feeders, here are some things to consider:

• Style | The style of bird feeder you use can determine which birds can and cannot use them. Rather than one feeder for all, consider having several different styles placed some distance apart throughout your yard. This helps prevent larger birds from dominating over the food, reduces stress, and can lower the risk of disease transmission.
• Cleaning | An easy-to-clean and fill feeder makes it much more likely that you’ll keep them clean and disinfected.
• Quality | I’ve never found the perfect feeder but some of the ones shown below are quite good. If you can manage the cost, good feeders can last for many years, proving more economical in the long run.
  
  My best ones are made of metal with few plastic parts. There are some excellent wooden ones but often they are not as long-lasting as the metal ones and can be difficult to disinfect.
• Safety | Anyone can design a bird feeder and that means there are some styles on the market that can harm birds. I’ve shown one example below.

I’ve listed several style below including the pros and cons.

If you get feeders, consider adding an automated wildlife camera to capture candid moments and see who visits when you’re not around. You can save the images on an SD card. Some also transmit the images by wifi.

Here are some favorite moments at my backyard bird feeders:

Types of Feeders

1Tray or Platform Feeders

Platform Bird Feeder | Amazon

• These are open feeders that can be placed close to the ground, mounted on stumps or legs, or suspended from a hook or branch.
• Birds can easily access the food, but so can squirrels and other animals, and they leave the feed exposed to the elements, which means you need to clean it daily.
• You often see large tray feeders like this one used for bird cam sites because they are open and roomy, accessible to a variety of birds.

Attracts: sparrows, jays, juncos, towhees, mourning doves.

Cons: Wooden feeders are not easy to disinfect. Also, open-style feeders cause seed to rot faster due to exposure to rain.

Related: How to Attract Birds to Your Feeder

2Hopper Feeders

• These feeders are somewhat better than platform feeders for protecting seed from the elements which in turn can help prevent mold or rot.
• Suspended from poles or tree branches or mounted on stumps, these feeders are good for larger species.

Attracts: cardinals, jays, grosbeaks.

Cons: Wooden feeders are not easy to disinfect. Also, open-style feeders cause seed to rot faster due to exposure to rain.

Related: This describes how blue jays help oak trees with seed propagation.

3Tube Feeders

• There are different types of tube feeders depending on the birds you want to attract and the size of the seed offered.
• Some are intended for medium and small birds who eat mixed birdseed.
  Mine attract finches, chickadees, titmice, and cardinals, both based on the seed offered and how easy it is to perch.
• There are also the long, narrow feeders with small ports made for nijer seed, which is a tiny seed. This helps avoid waste and offers it just to the smaller birds like goldfinches.

Attracts: various finches, particularly goldfinches if nijer seed is served.

4Squirrel-Proof Feeders

I’ve never found a truly squirrel-proof feeder, but you can definitely slow down their birdseed consumption.

• There are squirrel-proof feeders available in both hopper and tube styles.
• I consider it unethical to do anything that hurts or harms them, like oiling poles with Vaseline or vegetable oil, or adding cayenne pepper to feed (it can burn their eyes just like it does ours), so I just do things to slow them down and make it harder to climb to the feeders.
• Most squirrels can jump up four feet and leap across ten feet, so, if possible, place your feeders up and away from jumping points.
• I’ve got a huge squirrel population here and eventually a few clever squirrels figure out how to get some seed. Twice they have broken the hopper-style feeders guaranteed to keep them away (fail). They also find ways to suspend upside-down and reach into the tube feeders without triggering the weight-sensitive ports, although I’d say these are still worth the investment because it does minimize how much they can take.
• You can also add a squirrel baffle to the pole. I’ve always used a slinky on the pole, but the squirrels eventually figure out a way to climb around it. I’ve also seen gardeners who report success by using a few feet of wide pipe mid-way up the post.

Related: Get a Backyard Bird Cam

Squirrel Baffles

I have not tried this product, but I have seen others say this addition to a feeder pole makes it impossible for the squirrels to climb up to the feeder. But, you still have to make sure the feeder is not within jumping distance from the ground or a fence.

The pole baffle is another option. I always think there must be a household item I can use instead of buying one. The outer edge of the flared part needs to be far enough from the pole that the squirrel can’t reach it.

I’ve seen raccoons get around both of these baffles.

Some gardeners also use a homemade gizmo made from wide pipe that essentially makes the pole—part way up only—too wide for the squirrel to scooch up. Worth a try if you’re handy!

Not Recommended

This cage-style of bird feeder is fairly popular, but I don’t like them. The little birds go inside to get food, but, if they are startled, they can injure themselves trying to get away quickly.

More Backyard Birding Tips

Watch Bird Cameras

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛