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So how do you make sure you’ve chosen the right garden bird feeder? Where do you start, and is your choice really that important? Ok, so in the beginning it might not be that important. You can choose a simple or rudimentary one, nothing too fancy, and it’s quite acceptable to have a low price tag. This will probably do, at least until you make up your mind what you really want from your bird feeder.

Then again, if you’ve been doing this for a while, you won’t have much hesitation in going for the right type of garden bird feeders and you might even be able to teach me a thing or two. If you are new to birding though, you’re probably wondering how you will be able to choose the right bird feeder for your garden. Well, there are a few things to consider but I will list them here to make it easier for you to work through them.

Just before I do that though, if you really don’t want to go through the hassle, or if you’d rather discover what you need for your birding hobby as you go along, then you could just go ahead and get one of the basic platform garden bird feeders. They’re a great starter bird feeder and it will be a quick boost to your learning curve.

But if you’d rather be as prepared as possible before you make your choice of which garden bird feeder to buy, then keep reading. What I will do is make a list of all the things you should consider - the most important points at least. You will need to think about;

* What types of birds are you hoping to attract to your garden

* How long-lasting is your bird feeder

* Is it easy to maintain

* How much seed will it contain

* Do you live in the colder climes or the more warmer ones

* Are you on the migrating paths

* Do you want a squirrel proof bird feeder

* How much will you be willing to spend

Just to expand a bit on the first item in the list, the most important question that you can ask of yourself when buying a feeder is what type of bird or birds do you want to attract to your garden? This is most important as the choice of feeder is always influenced by the type of bird.

For example, if you are hoping to attract some humming birds, then you won’t get far with a platform garden bird feeder. Hummingbirds drink nectar so you’ll need to get a special feeder designed just for hummingbirds and orioles. On the other hand, if you want something like northern cardinals then you’ll probably want to get a garden bird feeder that sits on the ground. For woodpeckers and such, you should look at a suet bird feeder.

Hopefully you get the general idea, but if you’re new to all of this you might even now be wondering how on earth you’ll be able to know which birds can be found in your area. That too is a fairly simple problem to overcome and any field guide native to your area can help you or barring that I’ve always found the internet to be a mine of information. Otherwise you could always find more information at your library or perhaps even from a bird society in your area.

Now you’ve got the information you need it’s just a matter of narrowing it down to which particular birds you’re aiming to attract. After that you can go back to any of these sources to get the skinny on which garden bird feeders your birds will want, and don’t forget there’s always the friendly sales person from your local pet store.