Editorial standards

The short answer

• Claims about bird biology, disease and safety are sourced to wildlife agencies, peer-reviewed research or long-running citizen science programs.
• Numbers that are our own models are labeled as ours on the page and derived openly on the methodology page.
• Update dates reflect substantive revision, not cosmetic edits, and factual corrections are logged publicly with a date.
• No advertiser, manufacturer or retailer has any input into any rating, recommendation or ranking on this site.

The source hierarchy#

Not all sources are equal, and we use them in a fixed order.

Tier 1: agencies and peer-reviewed research. For anything touching bird health, disease, legality or safety, the source is a wildlife agency, a veterinary or ornithological journal, or a long-running research program. This covers disinfectant dilutions, disease responses, window collision guidance, and anything about protected species.

Tier 2: established ornithological institutions. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, Birds Canada and university extension services, for species accounts, feeding preferences, feeder design guidance and behavior.

Tier 3: standard reference data. Food composition tables for nutritional values.

Tier 4: our own analysis. Derived figures and working estimates, used where the higher tiers are silent, and always labeled as ours in the sentence where the number appears.

We do not source claims from retailers, manufacturers, content aggregators, encyclopaedias or other bird feeding sites. If a claim can only be traced to those, it does not go on the page.

Rules for claims#

No invented numbers. If we do not have a defensible figure, we write the guidance without one. A vague sentence that is true beats a precise sentence that is made up.

No borrowed precision. We do not attach a citation to a claim the cited source does not actually make, which is the most common failure mode in this subject area. Where sources disagree, we say so on the page instead of picking one silently.

Estimates are labeled. Phrases like "our working figure", "a midpoint estimate" and "a rule of thumb rather than a measurement" are used literally, not as rhetorical softeners.

Uncertainty is stated. Where the evidence is genuinely thin, the page says so. The methodology includes a section on the weakest inputs in our own analysis and how sensitive the conclusions are to them.

Safety claims are conservative. On disease, wildlife law, bears and anything involving harm to a bird, we point readers to their state or provincial wildlife agency and follow the more cautious of any two credible positions.

Updating#

Pages carry an update date and, where they differ, a first-published date. The update date changes when the substance changes: a revised recommendation, a new figure, a corrected fact, a restructured section. It does not change for typographical fixes, formatting or link maintenance, because a date that moves for cosmetic reasons is worthless as a signal.

Pages that depend on agency guidance are reviewed when that guidance changes. Pages that depend on seasonal advice are reviewed annually. The dataset behind our tables is versioned, so a change to it is visible in the file itself as well as on the pages that use it.

Corrections#

Factual errors are corrected on the page and logged on the corrections page with the date and a description of what changed. We do not delete errors silently. If a correction materially changes a recommendation, the page says so where the change was made.

Anyone can report an error through the contact page. Reports about a specific claim with a source attached are the most useful, but a description of what your feeders actually do is also welcome, and has changed several ratings in our dataset.

Independence#

We sell nothing. We carry no affiliate links. We accept no products, samples or sponsored placements. No page names a brand or a model, and no ranking, score or recommendation on this site is influenced by anything commercial.

The site is funded by advertising sold against the site as a whole. Advertisers have no visibility into or influence over editorial decisions, and no advertising relationship has ever been a factor in a rating. Advertising is labeled and separated from editorial content.

On the limits of this site#

Bird Feeder Web is a reference for feeding wild birds. It is not veterinary advice, it is not legal advice, and it does not replace guidance from a licensed wildlife rehabilitator or your state, provincial or federal wildlife agency. Where a situation involves a sick or injured bird, a protected species, or a bear, the correct action is to contact the relevant authority, and our pages say so rather than trying to substitute for them.