Ground Bird Feeders

Adding ground bird feeders to your backyard, or front yard for that matter, will bring new visitors to your feeding station...

And add hours of enjoyment to your backyard bird watching experience!

Ground feeders are a simple way to start feeding birds in your garden. I started with a shallow dish on my porch and a clay tray in my backyard. You can actually use anything that will hold the bird food of your choice.

Many kinds of birds prefer to feed straight off the ground. Northern Cardinals and mourning doves feed from the ground by choice, over a hanging or pole mounted bird feeder.

Ground feeders are also accessible to anything that wanders through your backyard, such as squirrels and chipmunks, so make for great diversion feeding.

ground bird feeders

A ground bird feeder is usually a simple feeder consisting of a tray with legs. It is usually raised a few inches off the ground which keeps the seed off the ground and helps to keep it from becoming dirty or rotting as quickly. Being raised also helps to dry seed quicker after rain or to keep food from becoming buried in snow. Many ground feeding tables have wire mesh or screened bottoms for drainage. Some ground feeders have a covering roof to keep snow and rain off the seed, while some have mesh cages over them to prevent squirrels or larger birds such as jays and crows from just taking over.

But hey, all creatures deserve to eat! Especially in winter when food is scarce.

And I do so enjoy the variety of garden visitors that enjoy my ground bird feeders.

Ground Bird Feeder Tips

  • Place your feeder at least 10 ft away from trees or shrubs that could be hiding places for cats and other predators. Rather use a pole mounted feeder if you do have a cat problem.
  • Locate your ground feeder under a hanging feeder to catch seeds dropped by smaller birds.
  • One of the advantages of a table ground feeder is that it is easy to fill and easy to clean. Hygiene is always a primary concern.
  • They are great for the occasional foods you might want to feed the birds such as fruit or table scraps.
  • Any bowls or basins and short bird baths also make wonderful ground feeders.
  • Cover your ground bird feeder with a Ground Feeder Roof to give small birds like a chaffinch, robin and blue tits protection from predators. The cage also helps keep the larger birds and squirrels off the bird food.


My BEST Ground Feeders





More Ground Feeders



Go from Ground Bird Feeders to Best Backyard Bird Feeders Home

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.