Sorry about the off topic . But today for the first time in a month a bird went to my feeder sock and I wasnt sure what it was, at first I thought it was a female cardinal, but in looking up pictures of finches it appears it may be a "house finch" so if it is not someone will have to correct me. Also this or these finchs went back and forth between the sock and wildbird feeder.
I thought I'd add a few pics...
We currently have a pair of House Finches that have to work harder at getting the niger (thistle) seed from our tube feeders. I had brought in all the other feeders to accomidate spots for the Hummingbird and Oriole feeders...so currently we are only keeping up the 2 Goldfinch feeders. I also did that to deter the bunny and squirrels from coming around as much as possible til winter again.
Anyhoo, I wanted to make a point of mentioning that the House Finches have a difficult time using the Goldfinch Feeders. I don't know if your tube feeder is meant for most birds or just finches or just Goldfinches. There are all types of tube feeders. It looks like you keep other bird food/seed in your tube feeder and you have the niger seed in the sock. With that said, this way you might understand why they go back and forth to the sock and your tube feeder.
The House Finches are not only larger in size which makes it a bit uncomfortable for them to be on the short perches for their longer bodies, but the holes for seed access are tiny for the Goldfinch beaks. They aren't meant for any other birds (we got them for that reason). This way we don't attract all the other big birds by having all sorts of seed feeders. It just cuts down on some of the bird traffic. If we still continued to have the peanuts and sunflower seeds, we'd still get the flocks of Grackles, House Sparrows and Starlings too. The Hummers would never come here...they'd definately move to a more peaceful location!
The 1st 2 pics show the male House Finch on the Goldfinch feeders. They are able to get some of the niger seed, but they have to work 5 times as hard to get the seed out compared to the Goldfinches. If the holes were any larger, the tiny seed would just flow out of the holes like water...
The next 2 pics show the difference in size of their beaks. The House Finches are thicker/bigger and the Goldfinches is smaller and more streamlined...so to speak...
This pic was taken a few months ago...I don't have this feeder out anymore.
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
This message has been edited by SusanLouise on Apr 10, 2009 1:42 AM
Hi Susan,, thanks for the info. I really was not expecting these guys , but was expecting the goldfinches. But my tube feeder actually has interhangable ports so I could feed finches from it if I choose. But I didnt know what kind of action I would get here and since it has taken so long for any finch to arrive Im glad I left the wildbird feeder as such. I could actually pick up another of these cheap feeders if my action really picks up on the finches. This was the very first day Ive had these guys kind of exciting for me. I have another big bag of the finch seed to use.
Susan--- Also you may remember the photos I posted the other day of my tube feeder with the saucer I have attached to the bottom of the tube so the finches could easily get some seed from the saucer as I noted it is about half full of fallen seed.
Do I understand you to say that you only have feeders out now for the goldfinches, since the house finches would have difficulty feeding from those they have to get feed elsewhere. Also if I understand you correctly , there would be no need for me to change my tube over unless goldfinches showup and Im not sure if the feeder I have would really work for the goldfinches anyway since I now have the saucer attached to the bottom of this one. By the way where did you get the goldfinch feeders from. I havent seen any out like those you have.
Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35
This message has been edited by Stevenindy on Apr 10, 2009 2:17 AM This message has been edited by Stevenindy on Apr 10, 2009 2:13 AM
I'm just thrilled you have visitors at your feeders!!! I'm sure with just a little more time you'll have some Goldfinches. If you have an area where you can plant a 1/2 dozen sunflowers, they will also see those this summer and that will help bring them to your area. I know for us, we started getting our Goldfinches the day our 1st sunflower opened up (about mid-June)in our garden and we've had them around ever since. Then they kept coming around since they saw we had other plants growing that had seeds for them later in the summer...like the coneflowers, Cosmos, and they also love the seeds of Salvias and Agastaches too...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
We were both posting about the same time...I just read your last post. BRB, i have to look at your other thread with better pics of your tube feeder...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
Yes, I only have the 2 feeders for the Goldfinches that you saw in my 2 threads from that day of the storm for the Goldfinches. I took all the other feeders down. They will go back up when the last Hummer leaves us during the fall migration...by mid-Oct at the latest. Our last hummer left last year on the 9th of October.
I bought 2 Oriole feeders and will be putting out our 9 hummer feeders maybe by the weekend or next week...depending if there is any Hummer sightings in in Kansas yet or not.
What kind of seed do you have in the tube feeder? It looks like it's fine for Goldfinches. They will eat a few different seeds...but niger is their fav...at least here anyway. When they can get their food supply in the gardens, they then love a buffet!
I'll attach a video or two showing the goldfinches eating the seeds in our garden, then I'm going to sleep...
I'll take a few minutes with photobucket...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
Susan-- The seed in the tube is called cascade wild bird food and it says it attracts quite a variety of birds including goldfinches. Since I dont have any goldfinches yet there is no hurry but I could get another of these tube feeders without the saucer for the goldfinches.
LOL...I forgot how many vids I had of them...so many to choose from! For now, here's two vids...
This one is of a Goldfinch eating the 'Lady in Red' seeds and had a bit of an "oopsie" moment...hehehe...
This message has been edited by SusanLouise on Apr 10, 2009 3:21 AM This message has been edited by SusanLouise on Apr 10, 2009 2:54 AM
Just a quicky comment. First I never see the house finches at my thistle feeder but they do visit my sunflower seed feeder. Those are the only two types of seed I use. the mixed seed ended up with a lot of waiste in my yard. my housefinches and the goldfinches will eat the sunflowr seed as will the cardinals, chicadees and thenutchatches. I has seen very few hosps this year so they may have gone to someone's hard that uses the mixed seed which they were all over when I did used mixed. Later on as the salvias start producing seed they will feast on the salvias and then the coneflowers, etc.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
Penny--- thanks for kicking in I wonder if the sunflower seed is cheaper in volume than some of the other feed.
Susan--- You hit it on the head when said the goldfinches wouldnt be far behind. I grabbed this shot and I will follow up with a vid of I think a mated pr as another showed up right after I got this photo. Very overcast and rainy here or the colors would have been better.
Steve
I believe the sunflower seeds are cheeper than the thistle. I won't keep my feeders up once there is natural food for them to eat. I will probably take the thisle feeder down first so they will still have the sunflower seed. Right after I posted my least post darn if I didn't have a house finch fly over to the thistle feeder and perch with two or three of the goldies but they are not very regular in my yard.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
And...(I forgot to mention), they will stick around and keep you company as long as they know they have a food supply. They'll eat your Salvia and Agastache seeds this summer too. You'll have a ball watching them. I find them to be very entertaining!!!
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
Just as long as there are not problems between them and the hummers. Im afraid the feeders will be fairly close together in my front yard. On the back porch will only be hummer feeders.
Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35
This message has been edited by Stevenindy on Apr 10, 2009 3:47 PM
Steve, I have had the tube finch feeders out for a number of years now and both the house finches and the gold finches use them. I only buy the thistle seed and the house finches certainly do not have any trouble emptying the feeders at all. Sometimes, there are so many house finches that the feeders are empty in a day...mine seem to be very greedy. I really enjoy watching the goldfinches and get a bit annoyed when the house finches eat all the seed!
Glad that you have some finches to feed. I need to put our feeders out this weekend. I end up getting new finch feeders every year, as they are hard to keep clean and are not very expensive.
As long as you don't have the Goldfinch feeder right next to a hummer feeder, you'll be fine...
Did you see these videos I posted in this thread? The 1st one is a hummer watching a goldfinch... http://tinyurl.com/ch54yz
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
This message has been edited by SusanLouise on Apr 10, 2009 3:54 PM
Yes, I saw those vids, I will have a lot of hummer feeders out so they wont all be close to the finches. Its just if when the males first arrive there may be some confrontations.
I will sure be glad when I can put my cuphea plants outside and Im getting more and more blooms on them, which surprises my greatly for last year the ones I had in the ground took quite a while before they started blooming.
For some reason this year my finches have decided they don't care for the black thistle. Instead they are chowing on sunflowers chips I put in some platform type feeders.
I was over at rural king this evening and saw a finch feeder that resembles the extra long one yu show in your first photo on this thread with all the different color perches. They also sell the thistle seed at $.99lb in bulk or in large bags which beats what I bought at walmart all to pieces. I just bought a small 5lb bag for about $10. I did not buy the feeder yet trying figure out where I can hang it , its so long, dont have a sheperds hook that long.
That's awesome!!! You'll find yourself a nice spot I'm sure. I love, love love that feeder and so do the finches!!! When you get more finches, they love playing musical chairs with each other when there are lots of them. If you don't get it in the near future, wait and get it for the fall after the hummers go and you'll have the Goldfinches at your place fill it up!!! You might be surprised and see a flock of them on your sock feeder. I've counted as many as 14 on one!!!
They really need to be polite with each other when they are that close together...LOL
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
Glad you enjoyed the blog...
The saucer idea is great...until a good gust of wind blows some of it out. As you know, the seeds are tiny and doesn't take much to blow out. You might think that all of the stuff on the ground is wasted seeds...but they are mainly the shelled hulls from the tiny seeds the Goldfinches shuck...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
Hi everyone! I am new to this site which I thought was just for hummingbirds so it is kindof fun to send along info on some of the other birds as well. I'm attaching a picture of two finches fighting over the food in an Oriole feeder which they couldn't get at because their beaks are too big. This was taken with a bird-cam. The bird-cam was a lot of fun - but not good for hummingbirds do I sent it back but I kept some of the pictures - this being one. Around here, the house finches actually are a nuisance and try to "take over" every kind of feeder - except one which I will show on another posting once I can dig up some pictures. We too have yellow finches and the only feeder I use is one where, in order to eat, they have to go upside down. They are the only bird that can do that, so it limits it's use to just the birds I want. I'll add more in the next posting.
Neat pic Carla!
I always feel bad for the birds that can't get to certain food sources because of our human desire to control nature...so to speak (for good reasons of coarse). I cringe and feel terrible everytime I see the House Finches using the Goldfinch feeders and see their struggle...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
This is a picture of the upside down feeder with the yellow finches. I got the feeder at Home Depot and only use thistle seed. Susan, I can appreciate what you say, but with other feeders with "their" kind of food, the house finches have plenty of other places to eat.
Steve, that's the problem with the sock feeders. The seed does come out and fall on the ground. I've also heard that they have to be replaced fairly frequently. I've had my finch feeder for probably five years. It's still in really good shape. It's a Droll Yankees. I don't know when, if ever, I'll need to replace it.
This year I set up a second feeding station in the back yard and bought a different type of thistle feeder. It's a mesh feeder. I've posted the picture below. It seems like the seed would come out of it as well, but it isn't. The goldfinch really seem to enjoy it.
Came back to edit just to say this isn't one of my pictures. I copied it off of the website where I purchased the feeder. One of these days I'm going to take pictures of my bird feeding stations and post them!
Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7
This message has been edited by NickNackHummer on Apr 13, 2009 4:18 PM This message has been edited by NickNackHummer on Apr 13, 2009 4:16 PM
Carol R.---Its not the sock feeder that Im losing so much thistle from but the tube feeder. It is a little different from the first cheap feeder I bought. I just happened to think I have interchangable ports for the first feeder I bought that are different from the second one so Im going to put those ports in and switch feed from one to the other and see how that works. I may quit useing the sock feeder for a while to see I lose less seed. By the way if your mesh feeder doesnt drop seed than thats the thing to use.
Susan-- I noticed the mourning doves eating some of the thistle that had dropped on the ground, didnt know they would eat that. My sister had warned me about the thistle being spread around by the birds and creating a problem.
I'm sorry you're finding the thistle seed to be a problem. We have a blower that has an attachment and we just vaccum them up about once a week and dump it in with our garbage. It has mostly bird poop and thistle seed casings and not that many seeds. Our Juncos and a mated pair of Morning Doves do help keep the mess under the feeders down somewhat...
It's not hard to keep it clean for the birds and for the yard's upkeep. Taking care of the feeders and the areas is work, but the labor is all part of the joy of having the birds be regular visitors. I guess that's my take on it.
It only takes 10 minutes to vaccum the excess mess up. I clean the feeders ever other month. The long tube feeder is so easy to clean. The yellow plastic caps come right off. I pull out the perches and push a soaked rag through with a pole and wipe the entire inside of the feeder...and the outside too of coarse. The rag I soak in bleach and antibacterial dishwashing liquid soap. then I rinse it all down good and dry the inside with a microfiber cloth. It works wonders! I'm sure we'll have those 2 long feeders for at least a few years. We also got those free ones from the company for thanking us for showing them the pics we sent them with both of the feeders we had filled with Goldfinches! I think we're set for about 5 years at least.
As you know, I took down the peanut feeder for the Blue Jays and Crows, the ground tray feeder for mainly the Juncos, House Sparrows and Squirrels, and the hanging tray feeder that was usually visited by the Cardinals and House Finches...because I want the Hummingbirds and Orioles to enjoy their visiting period. We don't have a backyard big enough for them all to enjoy our backyard at the same time without there being territorial issues...especially when toward the end of March we were getting huge flocks of Red Winged Blackbirds, Grackles and Starlings. The RW Blackbirds weren't so much of a problem, but the Grackles were bullying all the other birds. I wish we had an area to support a habitat for them all at once...maybe someday DH and I will get an acreage somewhere. In the meantime, Spring and Summer we'll have feeders out for the Goldfinches, Orioles and Hummingbirds. In the fall and winter we'll put back the other feeders after the last Hummingbird leaves us in the fall...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
There could be a problem here once the hummers show up as I have a space problem here and there could be some confrontations going on. May have to forego the wildbird and finch feeders for a while. The way it is now the wildbird feeder is getting heavy activity. May move it out back near the fountain.
I've never had territorial issues when the hummingbirds arrive. I keep all of the feeders out all of the time. I don't hang them really close together, but they aren't far apart either. The hummingbird feeders are on my front porch, and the other feeders are on feeding stations to the side of the porch, so they can see each other. The finch do like to drink the water from the ant guards but the hummingbirds still come.
I do try to avoid having grackles. I keep safflower in my tray feeder for the mourning doves since they can't use the tube feeders. The titmice, chickadees, cardinals and finch like safflower seed, too though. The grackles aren't fond of it so I don't have a terrible problem with them.
Steve, I did think you were talking about your sock feeder. After you reminded me of your other post about changing out the feeding parts I remembered. I do think you might have less mess using different seed in that feeder when you're using it as a basic tube feeder. I'm not familiar with the brand you mentioned, but if it isn't made particularly for a feed company for your area there will be a lot of wasted seed/filler seed in it. I always buy from Wild Birds Unlimited. The seed they sell is "no waste," just meaning that all of the seed is eaten. It seems like it's more expensive, since it's all eaten it really isn't. I buy the seed with millet so that the birds will push it on the ground for the doves. This is in a feeder that the doves can't use. None of this seed is wasted. If the seed you have has milo and wheat in it, that's usually not eaten.
Carol
Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7
You are very lucky not to have issues with many of the bully birds....House Sparrows were horrific for us the previous year...even destroying our evergreen bush along our porch in our front yard fall of 2007. As soon as the Grackles came late March, they were talking over all the feeders here. I believe one's location plays a big part in what birds and what #'s of them appear for each area. What would work at one location doesn't mean it will work somewhere else. The same thing is said for what seed one puts out for the birds.
In 2007 we had about 200-250 House Sparrows that would fly back and forth across our street to our feeders on our porch. It started innocently...with just one or 2 HOSP checking out and enjoying our new feeders. At the time, we were brand new to feeding wild birds. Our feeding Hummingbirds had only started a few months earlier. So when the last of the Hummers left that fall migration, we put up seed feeders.
Well, 2 HOSP turned into 10, by the end of the 1st week there was about 25. By the 2nd week there were 50-75. By the 3rd week there was over 100. We were going through seed like crazy. Then we had to start using the "halo"...which didn't work. There must have been so many others trying the same devise that they were used to it.
Then I was told to just put Saff seed in the feeder because HOSP don't like that seed. Well, they ate the Saff here! By the end of the 4th week, we took down all the feeders and just gave up. It cost us several hundred dollars to extract the tattered evergreen bush and replace it with a few Wegelia Bushes and a retaining wall....money we really didn't have extra to spend at the time considering we just bought the house and had an expensive fence built too.
Last fall we had a new set up in the back yard. It worked out well for us and we plan on doing it again this year.
I'm happy that you can keep all your feeders up all at once all year around. You are lucky the hummers aren't bothered by huge amounts of other birds. We have several videos of the hummers here sharing the space/our yards with other birds, but certainly not the #'s we have that come here. We still get 20-30 Goldfinches on our feeders we kept up. The Robins still get mud from our gardens and there are 2 females making nests in 2 of our neighbor's trees...and they love to use our Birdbath...along with so many other birds...a pair of Cardinals, a dozen Juncos, a couple of Blue Jays, a few RW Blackbirds, and a newly mated pair of Mourning Doves are in our back yard on a daily basis...either to enjoy the birdbath or to get seed from under the Goldfinch feeders.
I plan on putting up 8 more Hummingbird feeders around our property when they are finally in the area. So between 9 hummer feeders, 2 Oriole feeders and 2 Goldfinch feeders, were doing pretty good...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
Oh my gosh Susan Louise! I can't even imagine that many grackles! They are one bird I really can't stand to see hanging around. They are the reason I started using the safflower seed, and they do eat it here, too, but it's not their preference. The most I've ever seen here at a time is probably 10-20. That's enough to drive me crazy! I can definitely see why you take the other feeders down when it's hummingbird season. Didn't mean it to sound like I felt otherwise. Was just saying I didn't need to.
Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7
I thought you'd like to see a video I had posted here a few times before. This was with our invasion of HOSP...Fall of 2007. The video starts off looking rather tame...with a male House Finch and a single House Sparrow. The end of the video is watching the huge flock of them "whoosh" back across the street from our feeders and the majority were ontop of and in the evergreen bush when DH opens our front door.
Oh gosh, I can't imagine! I thought I had quite a few in my yard at a time, but nothing like what you've had! That would drive me crazy. I take back what I said about not removing food when they arrive. I do quit putting suet out. I had forgotten that. I hate to do that as I really love watching the woodpeckers at the suet cakes.
The scene with them on your neighbors roofs reminds me of something from the movie "The Birds." The birdfeeder like you show in your film is the type I bought for my back yard. I love the large amount of seed it holds plus the suet cakes on each side.
Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7
What would be ideal is if the birds could read I'd put out signs for certain birds to come back on such and such date...HA!
I was happy to see that the mated House Finch pair have finally decided to feed from the ground under the Goldfinch feeders. It really was depressing me seeing them forcing their bigger beaks into the tiny holes.
Yes, I love that feeder too. I hadn't put it out since 2007 though...maybe this fall I'll put up on it's pole that I bought but hadn't used yet. We had it hanging from the porch ceiling the last time we used it.
Steve,
Now if only I can get DH to finally buy me a hot tub...
Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5
I have lots of mourning doves and they seem to be doing a good job of salvaging any dropped seed on the ground although there is some bickering amoung them didnt know they might be territorial of fallen seed. As I have attached saucers to the bottom of both kinds of feeders some still falls out. Even though they will eat the wet seed in the saucers the birds much prefer the dry food from the tube. One dove seemed to be right at home under my coral honeysuckle curled there as if she was gonna nest right there. My grass is fairly tall but I have refused to mow it as once you start you keep mowing, but it would be easier for the doves to find all the seed.
I had hoped this wouldnt happen. This guy is entirely too big for the small saucer and support, but he doesnt mind the wet seed. As you can imagine these big bullies finally broke the twine I was useing for support so I went to picture wire on 4 sides for support. These doves had broke the saucer off twice before I decided I had to change it.
Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35
This message has been edited by Stevenindy on Apr 15, 2009 3:44 PM
I love to see the mourning doves. I can't see them on the ground from my window, so I put a tray feeder with a dome cover up a few years ago. The mourning doves and cardinals eat from it. They also use the hopper feeders which are in different areas. The smaller birds then use the tube feeders.
Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7
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