Bird Feeder Types

The short answer

• Feeder designs sort birds by how they stand and take food, not by what they eat. A cardinal and a chickadee both love sunflower and need different feeders to reach it.
• In our dataset of 34 feeder birds, a tube feeder is a listed feeder for 12 of them and an open tray is listed for 28. The tray is the most inclusive single design there is.
• Three feeders cover almost everything: a tube, a suet cage and an open tray reach 32 of those 34 species. The two they miss are hummingbirds.
• Add designs in order of the gap they fill, not the bird you most want. The bird you want is usually missing a place to stand, not a food.
• Every design trades inclusiveness against mess, weather resistance and squirrel exposure, and the open tray is worst on all three.

A bird feeder is a food dispenser with an opinion. It decides which birds can stand where the food is, and that decision, not the seed inside, is what determines the list of species you see. A northern cardinal and a black-capped chickadee both rate black oil sunflower at the top of their food list. Give them one tube feeder with short perches and only the chickadee eats.

So the useful way to think about feeder types is not as a catalogue of products. It is as a set of postures. Birds arrive at a feeding station already sorted into groups by how they take food in the wild, and each design serves one or two of those groups well and the rest badly.

The five ways birds feed#

Perching seed eaters. Finches, chickadees, titmice, sparrows, cardinals and grosbeaks. They grip a perch, take a seed, and either crack it in place or carry it off. They split neatly by size: an 11 g chickadee will use anything, and a 45 g cardinal or a 60 g grosbeak needs a surface it can plant both feet on. Almost every feeder argument in a backyard traces back to this split.

Clingers. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, creepers and, with practice, chickadees and titmice. They hold onto a vertical surface with their feet and, in the case of woodpeckers, brace with their tail. They do not need a perch at all, and a perch on a suet feeder is mainly an invitation to starlings. What they need is a grippable vertical face and, for the larger woodpeckers, a tail-prop surface below the food.

Ground feeders. Juncos, sparrows, towhees, doves, and a good share of cardinals and jays. They feed by walking and scratching. A feeder in the air is not a natural place for them, and though many will use a wide flat surface, they are more comfortable and more numerous within a foot of the ground. This is the guild most people accidentally exclude and then miss.

Nectar drinkers. Hummingbirds, and orioles as an occasional visitor. They hover or perch at a port and take liquid. No seed feeder of any design reaches them, which is why nectar sits in its own category rather than as a variation on anything else.

Fruit and insect eaters. Bluebirds, robins, orioles, catbirds, tanagers. They eat almost no seed, which is why a yard full of seed feeders can be invisible to them. They want soft food on an open surface: halved fruit, jelly, mealworms.

What each design is for#

Tube feeder. A vertical seed column with ports and perches. It is the small-perching-bird specialist: chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, goldfinches and house finches. Seed stays dry, birds feed one per port without crowding, and the perch length decides everything about who else gets in. See tube feeders.

Hopper feeder. A roofed house with seed sliding down to a ledge on each side. The ledge is the point: it is a standing surface, so cardinals, jays and grosbeaks feed here when they cannot use a tube. It holds the most seed of any common design and it is the least frequently refilled. See hopper feeders.

Platform or tray feeder. An open flat surface with a mesh floor. It excludes nobody, handles every food including fruit and mealworms, and requires the most management, because rain, snow, droppings and squirrels all reach it. Best used as a supplement with small amounts of seed turned over quickly. See platform and tray feeders.

Ground feeding. A low tray, or seed scattered on a clean patch. This is where juncos, sparrows, towhees and doves actually want to eat, and where millet and cracked corn belong. It also invites everything else in the neighborhood, so keep it small and clear it daily. See ground feeders.

Suet cage. A wire basket holding a fat cake against a vertical face. This is the clinger feeder, and it is the fastest way to add woodpeckers to a yard that has none. A tail-prop extension below the cage brings in the larger woodpeckers and flickers. See suet feeders.

Nyjer or finch feeder. A tube with slit ports, or a fine mesh sock, holding nyjer. The most selective feeder in common use: goldfinches and siskins, and very little else. Nyjer goes stale faster than any other seed, so buy small and fill small. See nyjer and finch feeders.

Peanut feeder. A wire mesh tube that holds shelled or in-shell nuts and makes birds work at them. Titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers, chickadees and jays all use it, and the slow extraction is a feature: nothing empties in one visit. See peanut feeders.

Hummingbird feeder. A nectar reservoir with feeding ports, either an inverted bottle or a shallow saucer. It is the only design that reaches the nectar guild, and the only one where cleaning frequency matters more than any other property. See hummingbird feeders.

Oriole feeder. A nectar feeder in orange with larger ports and a perch, usually with fruit spikes and a jelly cup. Orioles are heavier than hummingbirds and will not hover to feed, so the perch is essential rather than decorative. See oriole feeders.

Window feeder. A small tray or hopper suction-mounted to glass. It gives the closest view in bird feeding and, mounted directly on the glass, it removes the run-up a bird needs to hit a window at speed. Capacity is small, so it is a supplement. See window feeders.

Mealworm dish. A shallow smooth-sided dish, often caged. This is the bluebird and wren feeder and one of the few designs aimed at the insect eaters. Portion control matters more than the hardware. See mealworm feeders.

Caged and weight-activated feeders. A seed feeder wrapped in mesh, or one with a sleeve that closes under weight. These are not a separate guild, they are a filter applied to an existing design. A cage hands the feeder to small birds and locks out squirrels, grackles and starlings together. See squirrel-proof feeders.

Every design side by side#

Read the squirrel and weather columns as the running costs of the mess column. The designs that feed the most species are the ones that need the most attention, and there is no design that is both open and tidy.

Building a station that covers the yard#

Add feeders in the order that fills guild gaps, not in the order of the bird you most want.

1. Start with a tube or a hopper on a baffled pole, filled with black oil sunflower. In our dataset this reaches 12 species from a tube and 17 from a hopper, and it will bring in the scouts within days.
2. Add a suet cage. That takes the pair to 18 species and adds every common woodpecker.
3. Add a flat surface, either a tray under the tube or a low ground tray. This is the step that takes coverage to 32 of 34 species, and it is the step most yards skip.
4. Add nectar in season. Those are the last two species, and no seed feeder reaches them.

A fifth feeder rarely adds a species. It adds crowding, and crowding is a hygiene problem before it is anything else. Spread stations 15 to 20 ft apart rather than loading one pole, and mount them properly, which is a load and geometry question set out in poles, hooks and hangers.

Three things that decide more than the feeder does#

Placement. A feeder in the open is not used. A feeder in dense cover is a cat trap. Aim for about 10 ft from a shrub or brush pile, and remember the window rule: closer than 3 ft to glass or further than 30 ft, never in between. Full reasoning in where to put a bird feeder.

Cleaning. Any design that cannot be taken apart cannot be washed, and a feeder that cannot be washed eventually makes birds ill. Check the disassembly before you buy, then follow how to clean a bird feeder.

The material. Two feeders of the same shape can last three years or fifteen, and the difference is the plastic, wood or metal it is made from. See bird feeder materials.

If you would rather answer questions than read comparisons, the feeder selector ranks designs against your yard, and how to choose a bird feeder walks the decision in full.

Every feeder guide#

Frequently asked questions#

What is the best type of bird feeder for beginners?

A hopper or a tube on a baffled pole, filled with black oil sunflower. Both hold several days of seed, both keep it dry, and both suit the birds most likely to find a new feeder first: chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and house finches. Add a suet cage within the first month, because it brings in woodpeckers, which are the birds most people are actually hoping for, and it needs no extra pole.

Why do I only get small birds at my feeder?

Because your feeder only offers small perches. Cardinals, jays, grosbeaks and doves eat the same sunflower your chickadees eat, but they cannot stand on a 2 in perch stub. Add a tray under the tube or feed them where they are comfortable, on a platform or on the ground. This is the single most common feeding disappointment and it is a geometry problem, never a food problem.

How many feeders do I need?

Three covers a typical yard: something for small perching birds, something for clingers, and something flat and low. In our own dataset that combination is a listed feeder for 32 of 34 common feeder species. A fourth, a nectar feeder in summer, closes the gap entirely. More than four in one spot mostly adds crowding, mess and cleaning rather than species.

Which feeder is best for keeping squirrels out?

A caged feeder or a weight-activated one, but position matters more than either. A baffled pole with 7 to 10 ft of clear air around it defeats squirrels more reliably than any mechanism, and it protects every feeder you hang on it. Choose the feeder for the birds you want and solve squirrels with the mount, not by buying the same seed feeder twice.

Do I need different feeders in summer and winter?

The seed feeders stay the same year round. What changes is the additions: nectar and fruit from spring through late summer, a mealworm dish during a cold wet nesting spell, and more suet once temperatures drop and fat stops going rancid quickly. In hot weather suet needs to be a no-melt formulation or come down entirely, and nectar needs changing every day or two.

Sources and further reading

1. Feeding Birds and Types of Feeders Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch Feeder designs and the species groups each attracts; Cleaning and station hygiene
2. Bird Feeding and Care National Audubon Society Feeder selection and placement principles
3. All About Birds Cornell Lab of Ornithology Species foraging behavior and diet