Which Bird Feeder Attracts Which Birds

Feeder design decides who eats. If you are not seeing the birds you want, the feeder is usually a likelier explanation than the seed.

Tube feeders

Brings in: chickadees, titmice, finches, nuthatches, siskins.

Small perches suit small birds that cling. Larger birds cannot get a footing, which is either the point or the problem depending on what you want.

If you are running a tube feeder and wondering where the cardinals are, this is why.

Hopper feeders

Brings in: cardinals, jays, grosbeaks, plus everything a tube feeder gets.

The broad landing edge is what matters. Cardinals are heavy and do not cling \u2014 they need to stand square. A hopper is the most generally useful feeder for a garden, which is why most camera feeders are built on this pattern.

Platform and tray feeders

Brings in: almost everything, including doves, juncos, sparrows and towhees that prefer to feed low.

Completely open, so nothing is excluded. That includes squirrels and starlings, and seed gets wet. Best used as a supplement rather than your only feeder, and best with drainage.

Suet cages

Brings in: woodpeckers, nuthatches, wrens, creepers, chickadees.

The birds a seed feeder never reaches. If you have never had a woodpecker, this is the missing piece rather than a different seed.

Tail-prop designs \u2014 with an extended back panel \u2014 suit larger woodpeckers, which brace their tails while feeding.

Nyjer feeders

Brings in: goldfinches, siskins, redpolls.

Fine mesh or very small ports, because nyjer seed is tiny. Nothing else uses these, which makes them a clean way to feed finches without competition.

Nyjer goes stale and finches will refuse old seed. Buy small quantities.

Hummingbird feeders

Brings in: hummingbirds, occasionally orioles.

Nectar rather than seed, so a separate system entirely. Red housing, no dye in the liquid, and an ant moat.

Ground feeders

Brings in: juncos, doves, towhees, sparrows, native quail.

Some birds simply will not use a hanging feeder. A low tray or scattered seed on a patch of open ground covers them. Keep it away from cover \u2014 ground-feeding birds are the most exposed to cats.

What to actually buy

If you want one feeder: a hopper with black oil sunflower. It covers the widest range of garden birds.

If you want two: add a suet cage. It brings in a completely different set of species rather than more of the same.

If you want three: add either nyjer for goldfinches or a hummingbird feeder, depending on which you would rather watch.

Beyond that you are optimising, not expanding.

One thing worth knowing about camera feeders

A camera feeder is almost always a hopper design, which means it will show you the broad garden crowd \u2014 cardinals, chickadees, titmice, jays, finches.

It will not show you woodpeckers unless it takes suet, and it will not show you hummingbirds at all. Those need their own feeders. If hummingbirds are what you actually want to watch, buy the feeder built for them rather than hoping a general one will do.