What kind of birds do you want to attract? and are there some you want to exclude? Lots of choices depending on what birds you like and are willing to buy food for.

Maybe you should get three or four feeders of different types .....

Claire

Hi Claire, We have two right now. We have a small squirrel proof tube that actually does work, which we keep black sunflower seed in. Then we have a second one that is a tube in a cage and that works fine too and we also fill that with black sunflower. The third birdfeeder that we have to replace was a large three tube feeder. It held a LOT of seed and we like it because we didn't have to refill it too often. We were putting safflower seed and sometimes thistle in one of the tubes because it was not squirrel proof and the squirrels don't seem to enjoy safflower and leave it alone.

We like to have the small feeders that only the small birds can use, but we do like cardinals and doves and the larger birds that need a larger feeder I guess. I would like to attract song birds, but I'm not sure what they eat. About the only thing we would really like to keep out, are the squirrels. (g)

Be careful with squirrel-proof feeders! I had one, briefly, that had the unfortunate effect of killing small birds. It was a tube feeder; the mechanism that closed the ports could be set off if a squirrel or big bird landed on one side, and ALL the ports would close, so a small bird on the other side would not see it coming.

I found about 8 young birds on the ground before I realized that it was the feeder that was at fault. As soon as I replaced that feeder, there were no more bodies to be found.

I could not convince the local bird store that this unit was the problem, but I have noticed that the squirrel-proof feeders they now stock are designed a little differently.

It's really nice to have a variety of feeders to attract different types of birds. Cardinals seem to like the rectangular steel feeders (which close if a squirrel lands at the feeding station), but most smaller birds seem to really prefer the tube feeders. I no longer feed birds in my own yard, but my mom has 6 different kinds of feeders, and a great variety of birds visiting constantly. It's lots of fun to watch them! She uses domes over the tubes to keep the squirrels out, and that works, most of the time.

Thanks dtd, Sorry to hear about the 8 dead birds, wow, that must have been very upsetting. I think there is a local Audubon store I can go to. They must have a good selection of feeders to look at. There seems to be a lot of new designs. They are fun to watch.