Top 5 compared
The best bird feeders
Birds coming and going all day, close enough to watch from the kitchen window over breakfast.
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The top 5 at a glance
A bird feeder hangs from a branch, a hook or a pole and keeps seed where you can watch the birds come to it. Tube and hopper feeders take mixed seed for chickadees, finches and cardinals; a pole station adds suet and water on extra hooks; and a camera feeder photographs each visitor and sends the picture to your phone.
Squirrels are the usual trouble. A metal roof and base stand up to their teeth, but only a squirrel-proof design, with a shroud that drops shut under a squirrel’s weight, keeps them out of the seed, and two of the feeders here work that way. Hang a feeder within a short flight of a shrub or tree, so small birds have somewhere to dart back to.
What matters
- Easy to fill, and to take apart for cleaning.
- A lip on the tray that keeps seed off the lawn.
- Vents in the seed tube, so damp seed doesn’t spoil.
- For a camera feeder, a Wi-Fi signal that reaches where it hangs.
#1Squirrel Buster Plus Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder
$100–$150
Brome’s largest squirrel-proof feeder holds 5.1 lb of seed over six ports, comes with its Cardinal Ring, and has a shroud that drops shut over the ports under a squirrel’s weight. Brome, its maker, is based in Knowlton, Quebec.
What owners say: Owners say the squirrels give up on it while plenty of birds keep coming, and one fill lasts them five or six days; a few had parts break, and some find it pricey.
A closer look: Set the spring to suit the birds you want: it decides how much weight the shroud carries before closing, so heavier birds can be kept off as well as squirrels. Every part comes apart by hand for cleaning, and at 28 in tall from base to hanger it needs a sturdy hook or a pole.
- Holds 5.1 lb of seed
- Shuts out squirrels by weight
- 6 feeding ports
- Cardinal Ring included
- Comes apart by hand
Best for: Big yards and lots of birds
- Type
- Squirrel-proof seed feeder
- Size
- 28 in tall
- Takes
- Bird seed
- Built from
- Chew-proof outer parts
#2Squirrel Buster Standard Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder
$50–$75
The Plus’s squirrel-closing shroud in a smaller, simpler feeder: 1.3 lb of seed, four stainless steel perches for perching birds and a wire shroud that clinging birds can hang on, for a yard that doesn’t need six ports.
What owners say: Birds flock to it, and owners like what it saves them in seed and say it went together easily; it’s more compact than some pictured, and in a few yards the squirrels still won.
A closer look: Vents at the top let warm, damp air escape from the clear seed tube, which keeps the seed fresher through a hot spell. Perching birds use the four perches at the ports, while clinging birds can feed hanging from the wire shroud, so more birds can use it at once.
- Holds 1.3 lb of seed
- 4 stainless steel perches
- Clinging birds use the shroud
- Vented tube keeps seed fresh
- Lifetime limited warranty
Best for: Squirrels, smaller yards
- Type
- Squirrel-proof seed feeder
- Size
- 13.3 in tall
- Takes
- Bird seed
- Built from
- Chew-proof outer parts
#3MIXXIDEA Bird Feeding Station Kit
$30–$50
A 91 in pole with two big shepherd’s hooks and two more that move to any height, plus four feeders (a metal suet feeder among them), a mesh tray and a water bowl: a whole bird café for a yard with no handy tree.
What owners say: Once it’s assembled from the clear instructions, owners find it holds firm, and they put the spare hooks to use for their own feeders; some had the plastic water bowl crack or saw rust come through.
A closer look: Push the five-prong base well into soft ground before hanging anything, and spread the feeders around the pole so it stays balanced. The spare hooks take a hanging basket or a lantern too, and the tray and bowl lift off to be rinsed.
- 4 hooks, 2 adjustable
- 4 feeders, tray and bowl
- 5-prong ground base
- No tools needed
Best for: Lawns with nowhere to hang feeders
- Type
- Feeding station with pole
- Size
- 91 in tall
- Takes
- Seed, suet, water
- Built from
- Bronze-coated metal
#4HARYMOR Smart Bird Feeder with Camera (Q8)
$75–$100
A feeder with a 2K camera built into its front: it spots visiting birds, sends a snapshot to your phone and can identify the species, so you can see who came to breakfast while you were at work. Two solar panels keep its battery topped up.
What owners say: Owners rave about how clear the video is and how easily it went up with the mounting kit, and love watching visitors through the day; the battery, the Wi-Fi link and the bird ID each draw mixed reports.
Heads up: Detailed information on each identified species needs a subscription to HARYMOR’s app.
A closer look: Mount it on a tree or a wall within reach of your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, with the extra solar panel angled toward the sun. Clips go to the cloud on a three-day loop, or onto a memory card of up to 128GB (not included) if you’d rather keep them yourself.
- 2K camera, 120° lens
- Snapshot alerts to your phone
- Identifies bird species
- Two solar panels
- Needs 2.4GHz Wi-Fi
Best for: Watching birds from your phone
- Type
- Camera feeder
- Size
- 10.8 in tall
- Takes
- Bird seed
- Built from
- Plastic
#5Youvip Metal Roof Bird Feeder (bronze)
$10–$20
A small feeder that gets the details right: a metal roof and base that squirrels can’t chew, a perch ring all the way around so several birds can feed at once, and a raised lip on the tray that keeps seed in instead of on the lawn.
What owners say: Easy to fill and nicely made, owners say, and in most yards the birds take to it quickly; a few found it smaller than they’d pictured, and some had birds pass it by.
A closer look: Press the button on the roof and slide it up the steel cable to pour seed in, so the feeder never has to come down. The same cable sets the hanging height, handy for keeping it out of a squirrel’s jump from a fence or branch, and the whole thing pulls apart in two steps for a scrub.
- Roof slides up to refill
- Holds 2 lb of seed
- Raised lip keeps seed in
- Adjustable steel hanging cable
- Comes apart by hand
Best for: Several small birds at once
- Type
- Seed feeder with perch ring
- Size
- 8.1 in tall
- Takes
- Bird seed
- Built from
- Metal roof and base
How they compare
Swipe sideways or rotate device to see all 5.
| Feature | #1Squirrel Buster Plus | #2Squirrel Buster Standard | #3MIXXIDEA station | #4HARYMOR camera | #5Youvip metal roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall | Runner-up | Best feeding station | Best camera feeder | Best budget | |
| Picked Rating | 9.2 | 9.0 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 8.8 |
| Price | $100–$150 | $50–$75 | $30–$50 | $75–$100 | $10–$20 |
| Type | Squirrel-proof seed feeder | Squirrel-proof seed feeder | Feeding station with pole | Camera feeder | Seed feeder with perch ring |
| Size | 28 in tall | 13.3 in tall | 91 in tall | 10.8 in tall | 8.1 in tall |
| Takes | Bird seed | Bird seed | Seed, suet, water | Bird seed | Bird seed |
| Built from | Chew-proof outer parts | Chew-proof outer parts | Bronze-coated metal | Plastic | Metal roof and base |
| Best for | Big yards and lots of birds | Squirrels, smaller yards | Lawns with nowhere to hang feeders | Watching birds from your phone | Several small birds at once |
| Buy now | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon |
Photos are illustrative, some computer-generated. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. It costs you nothing extra. How we pick · How this works.
