Grace’s Bird CageBackyard Birding, Feeders & Smart Birdwatching

Bird Feeder Placement Calculator

Answer a few questions about your yard. You get a placement zone, a mounting height and a safety checklist for windows, cats and squirrels.

Chickadee at a wooden hopper-style bird feeder

Photo: Imagination505 (public domain)

Squirrel pressure
Outdoor cats or other ground predators?
Is this a smart (camera) feeder?

The guidance behind the calculator

  • Windows: the Cornell Lab and American Bird Conservancy recommend feeders within 3 feet of windows or more than 30 feet away. Glass that birds hit should be treated with exterior markings spaced no more than about 2 inches apart.
  • Cover: birds use nearby shrubs as a staging perch and escape route. About 10–15 feet balances that against ambush by cats.
  • Squirrels: commonly cited clearance is roughly 8–10 feet from launch points, with a baffle whose top sits about 4–5 feet up.
  • Cats: free-roaming cats kill billions of birds in the U.S. each year. Keeping cats indoors is the most effective fix.

Distances are rules of thumb, not precise measurements. Watch how birds and squirrels actually use your yard and adjust. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.