Feeder Types
Ground Feeders and Catch Trays
A third of the birds in your yard will not use a hanging feeder. Feeding them low is easy. Doing it without also feeding the rats takes a routine.
The short answer
- A ground feeder is a low tray, usually with a mesh floor, set a few inches off the soil. A catch tray is the same idea hung under a tube or hopper feeder to intercept spill.
- It is the only practical way to feed juncos, towhees, doves, most native sparrows and, reliably, cardinals.
- A mesh floor is not optional. Seed on a solid tray sits in rainwater and molds in two days.
- Ground feeding is the fastest route to a rodent problem in your yard. The fix is quantity control: put out only what the birds finish by dusk.
- Move the feeding spot every week or two. Droppings and hulls build up under a fixed location and become a disease risk.
Plenty of common backyard birds never learned to hang from a perch. Juncos, doves, towhees and most native sparrows feed on or near the ground, and they will spend the winter under your tube feeder picking up what the finches drop rather than using the feeder itself.
A ground feeder formalizes that: a shallow tray with a mesh floor, sitting 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 cm) above the soil on short legs. A catch tray is the same object hung directly under a hanging feeder to intercept spill before it reaches the grass.
Both are cheap, both work immediately, and both carry the one genuine downside in backyard feeding that people are least honest about: seed on the ground feeds rodents as readily as it feeds birds. This page covers the hardware, the species, the seed, and the routine that keeps the rats out of it.
The four ways to feed low#
| Method | What it is | Best for | Main drawback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground table | Mesh-floored tray on short legs | Juncos, doves, sparrows, cardinals | Needs sweeping and moving |
| Catch tray | Mesh tray hung under a tube or hopper | Reducing spill, adding cardinals | Also seats grackles and squirrels |
| Covered ground feeder | Ground table with a roof over it | Wet regions, snow country | Costs more, harder to clean |
| Scattering by hand | A handful on bare ground | Testing whether birds are there | Impossible to clear up, worst hygiene |
The mesh floor is what separates a ground feeder from a puddle. Quarter-inch (6 mm) hardware cloth or a molded plastic grid drains rain in seconds, holds sunflower and millet without losing it, and dries between showers. A solid tray with a lip does the opposite of all three, which is how you end up with the clumped, sour mess described in moldy, clumped or wet seed.
Which birds show up#
Low feeding brings in a different cast from a tube, and it is a large one.
- Dark-eyed juncos are the classic winter ground bird across most of the country, and they prefer white millet to sunflower.
- Mourning doves feed almost exclusively on the ground or on a wide flat surface, taking cracked corn, millet and sunflower.
- White-throated sparrows, song sparrows and chipping sparrows scratch through low seed all winter.
- Eastern towhees work leaf litter next to cover and rarely stray far from a brush pile.
- Northern cardinals feed on the ground more than most people expect, especially at dawn and dusk.
You will also get birds you may not want. House sparrows, starlings, grackles and cowbirds all feed on the ground readily, and a ground tray is the hardest feeder in the yard to make selective. There is no short-perch trick available on a flat surface.
Put it near cover, not in the open
Ground-feeding birds are exposed and they know it. A tray 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m) from a shrub, hedge or brush pile gets used far more heavily than the same tray in the middle of a lawn, because the birds can reach cover in one hop. Any closer than about 5 feet (1.5 m) and you have built an ambush point for cats.
Catch trays under hanging feeders#
A catch tray solves a specific problem: the ring of hulls and dropped seed that kills grass under a tube feeder. It intercepts the spill, keeps it dry on a mesh floor, and lets a second tier of birds eat what the finches waste. On the mess side alone it is worth having, and the full set of options for the bare patch under a feeder is in seed mess, hulls and dead grass.
The cost is selectivity. The reason a bare tube feeder excludes grackles is that there is nowhere for a heavy bird to stand. Bolt a 12-inch (30 cm) tray to the bottom and you have built exactly the standing platform you were avoiding. Squirrels also use trays as a seat.
The practical answer is a removable tray. Fit it in fall and winter when you want cardinals and juncos under the feeder, take it off in the weeks when blackbird flocks come through.
Rodents, honestly#
Seed left on the ground overnight is a food source for mice and rats, and no design feature changes that. What changes it is timing and quantity.
The rule that actually works
Put out only what the birds will finish by dusk, then sweep or lift the tray. Rodents forage at night. A tray that is empty at sunset feeds no rats, whatever else is going on in your yard. If you have already seen rats, stop ground feeding completely until the problem is resolved, and read rodents under bird feeders before restarting.
Practical measures beyond emptying the tray:
- Use hull-free seed where you can. Sunflower hearts and no-mess blends leave nothing behind for a rodent to find.
- Bring the tray in at night if it is small. Lifting it also lets the ground underneath dry out.
- Cut the quantity. Most people put out three or four times what their birds actually eat in a day. Halve it and see what disappears.
- Watch for chipmunks, which are a separate and much more visible problem, covered in chipmunks at the feeder.
Seed for low feeding#
Ground birds prefer smaller seed than tube birds do, which is convenient because the cheap ingredients that are useless in a tube are genuinely eaten here.
- White proso millet is the best all-round ground seed. Juncos, doves and native sparrows take it enthusiastically, and it is almost the only seed where the ground is the right place for it.
- Cracked corn brings doves, jays and quail. It also brings blackbirds, deer and rodents, so use it deliberately and in small amounts.
- Sunflower hearts work for everything and leave no hulls.
- Black oil sunflower in the shell is fine, but the hull layer that builds up under a fixed tray is the thing you will be raking in spring.
Keeping the site clean#
A fixed feeding spot concentrates droppings, hulls and damp seed in one square yard of ground. That is where transmissible disease becomes a real concern at feeders, more so than at any hanging feeder.
Move the tray every one to two weeks, even by just a few feet. Rake or sweep the old spot. Scrub the tray with hot soapy water on the same schedule as your other feeders, and more often in warm wet weather. In snow country, lift the tray after a storm rather than letting seed freeze into a slab.
Two spots, alternating
Set up two ground feeding locations 15 or 20 feet (4.5 to 6 m) apart and use them in alternating weeks. The unused one dries out, and the birds find the switch instantly because they already know both spots.
A ground feeding routine that stays out of trouble#
- A mesh-floored tray on legs, 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 cm) up, sited 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m) from cover.
- White millet and sunflower hearts, in a quantity that is gone by dusk.
- Swept or lifted every evening, always before dark.
- Moved and scrubbed every one to two weeks.
- A removable catch tray under the hanging feeders, on in winter, off during blackbird waves.
- No ground feeding at all during a rodent problem, and no feeding under a shrub a cat can hide in. The cat side of this is covered in cats and bird feeders.
If you want a middle option, a raised platform feeder at 3 feet (1 m) keeps most of the same species while getting the seed off the soil entirely. And if juncos are the specific reason you are reading this, the winter routine that brings them in is in how to attract juncos.
Frequently asked questions#
What birds eat from the ground?
Dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves, white-throated and song sparrows, towhees, cardinals, brown thrashers and, in the West, spotted towhees and California quail. Many species that use hanging feeders also feed on the ground for part of the day, including goldfinches and blue jays.
Do ground feeders attract rats?
They can, and it is the main reason to be careful. Rats and mice are drawn to seed that sits overnight, not to birds. If you put out only what gets eaten by dusk, sweep the hulls, and never leave a loaded tray out after dark, ground feeding usually does not create a rodent problem. If you already have rats, stop ground feeding entirely until they are gone.
Should a ground feeder have a mesh bottom?
Yes. Hardware cloth or plastic mesh lets rain drain straight through and keeps seed off wet soil, which is the difference between seed that lasts two days and seed that molds overnight. A solid-bottomed tray on the ground is the worst version of this feeder.
How high off the ground should a ground feeder sit?
Two to six inches (5 to 15 cm) on short legs or bricks. That is enough to let air move under the tray and keep it out of standing water, while staying low enough that ground-feeding birds treat it as ground rather than as a platform.
Are catch trays under feeders a good idea?
They cut the mess under a tube feeder considerably and give cardinals and doves somewhere to feed. The tradeoff is that a wide tray also gives grackles, starlings and squirrels a place to stand, so the tray that reduces waste can also change which birds dominate the feeder.
Is it safe to scatter seed directly on the ground?
It works and costs nothing, but it is the least hygienic option. Seed touches soil where droppings accumulate, and it is impossible to clear up at night. Scattering a small handful in a different spot each day is a reasonable compromise; dumping a scoop in the same place every morning is not.