How we rate
Every number on this site traces to a gear database, a species database, and documented weights. This page is the documentation.
The YardScore
YardScore is a 0–100 editorial score across five weighted axes, applied identically to all 10 pieces of gear in the database:
- Bird service30%
- How many species the gear actually serves, and how well — computed against our species database, not the marketing copy. A feeder that serves cardinals, jays, and juncos outranks one that only suits clinging birds.
- Honesty of the offer20%
- Subscriptions and what they gate. Hardware that works fully without a plan rates higher; gear whose headline feature (AI species ID) sits behind a paywall is flagged with a berry chip and scored accordingly.
- Squirrel & pest survival20%
- Either it resists squirrels mechanically, or it needs a baffle and we say so. Ease of keeping the feeder clean — which matters for bird health — counts here too.
- Durability & upkeep15%
- Build quality, weather resistance, and how painless refilling and the all-important regular cleaning are.
- Value15%
- Bird service per dollar at typical street price — including any subscription a buyer is realistically going to pay.
Where the species facts come from
The 14 entries behind Birds to Attract are standard field-guide knowledge — the kind of feeding preferences, feeder fit, and habitat notes printed in any good guide. We deliberately publish no invented claims: no made-up range maps, no population figures, no migration dates we can't stand behind. Ranges are coarse regions ("East, South, Midwest"), and where the honest answer is "it depends on your habitat and takes weeks," the entry says exactly that. Cardinals prefer sunflower and safflower on stable feeders near dense cover; goldfinches want nyjer and nest late; bluebirds want mealworms, boxes, and open lawns; hummingbird nectar is four parts water to one part plain sugar with no dye. None of that is our discovery — it is the settled consensus of the hobby, and that is the point.
Where the gear numbers come from
Prices are typical street-price bands, not live quotes — they drift with sales and we correct them when they drift materially. Smart-feeder subscription plans change often, so our chips tell you what the subscription gates rather than quoting a tier price that may be stale; always check the current plan page before buying. Spot a stale number? Tell us — a correction recomputes every entry, table, and verdict that uses it.
A note on readability
Our readers skew older, and we treat that as a design requirement, not an afterthought. Body text is set in Atkinson Hyperlegible — a typeface designed by the Braille Institute for maximum character distinction — at a base size of 17–18px, with strong contrast and generous line spacing throughout. If any page on this site is hard to read, that is a bug; report it like one.
Commissions and the firewall
YardBirdHQ earns affiliate commissions — including from Amazon — when you buy through our links. Scores and species entries are written from the databases before any link is attached; no brand sees, sponsors, or edits a rating. A feeder whose AI features need a subscription keeps its berry chip no matter how well its links convert.
Corrections
Species-fact and pricing corrections get priority over everything else — the databases are the product. Contact us.