Types of bird feeders

Various types of wild bird feeders attract different types of wild birds. It's important to know  your area's native wild birds so you will know when a stranger arrives and visits.  Migration time is the most likely time different wild birds will appear at the feeders.  They are looking for a place to eat,sleep and replenish themselves  for the next phase of their journey. Putting up feeders and baths will entice and draw in the birds.My one friend's idea of feeding the birds is throwing wild bird seed and food on the ground.She's right, that will do the trick;it's the original and most basic wild bird feeder.A preferred way is to have a ground feeder that is 1-2 inches off the ground. This way the wild bird seeds are contained and will not grow into your lawn. It also allows you to control the wild birds you wish to draw in. Birds such as towhees,cardinal,doves,quail and the sparrow family are all considered ground feeding wild birds.They will eat grass seed,milo,millet,sunflower seeds and corn.Thrashers,robins and flickers are also ground feeders but they look for insects and worms which can be offered in a feeders too. A tray or a shallow bowl or plate can act as a ground feeding station for wild birds.
Tray or platform feeders on a pole or suspended attract a different group of feathered friends. This type of wild bird feeder should have raised sides for birds to perch and land on. It will also help to keep the wild bird seed in the tray and not scattered all over on the ground.Platform or tray feeders can hold a good bit of  wild bird seed but try to judge how much seed to put on the tray because you want it to be emptied and not hanging around so it spoils. Pouring seed into these stations is easy.They also accept any type of wild bird seed, nut,fruit, and bread. The birds that will come to this feeder are cardinals, finches,jays,chickadees and nuthatches.All like open feeders.If mealy worms and peanuts are offered titmice,bluebirds,buntings and some woodpeckers will appear.
Tube feeders are long and cylindrical in shape and attracts a different variety of wild birds.   Tube feeders come in hard plastic,wire mesh or nylon/poly mesh).Each type is specific to attracting and feeding  various types of wild birds. I like the hard plastic ones with the metal perches and the re-enforced openings or seed ports. The feeders tend to be more sturdy and the squirrels have a harder time gnawing through them to get to the wild bird seed.Make sure it has easy accessibility for filling because you don't want to use two hands to steady the feeder leaving you no hand to pour the seed. .These feeders depending on the hole sizes offer different types of wild bird seed. The larger ports will usually dispense safflower,sunflower,red and white millet and flax seed.This will attract jays,chickadees finches,titmice and all kinds of sparrows.The wire mesh ones usually are filled with peanuts and fruit pieces.This wild bird selection of food is a woodpeckers,nuthatches, Carolina wrens and jays paradise.The slit hole feeders are made for Niger or thistle seed.This attracts wild birds such as goldfinches,house finches and pine siskins.The poly sock like feeders also hold Niger seed which will attract goldfinches.
One more wild bird seed feeder to discuss is the hopper style feeder.These are enclosed containers made of heavy plastic or metal. They keep the wild bird seed dry in foul weather and usually come with a weighted perching bar which is adjustable.  The weighted bar helps keep the heavier and bigger wild birds and squirrels  getting to the bird seed. It allows the little guys to eat more peacefully.The hopper feeder takes all kinds of mixed wild bird  seed thus allowing many different smaller birds to eat from it. Many of the perching and song birds will go to the hopper type station.Next time the discussion will focus on fruit eating wild birds and nectar loving wild birds. See if you can guess what type or kind of wild birds these are.  Please go to my site .WildBirdSeedMart.com to see our offerings of wild bird seed and wild bird feeders.