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goldfinches?

15 years ago

I think I may have bought the wrong kind of bird seed again. It was attracting black birds, so I went and bought what I believe is the bird seed I had before that attracted goldfinches.

This new bag is finch food by Rainbow Valley but it is not all thistle seed. It is mostly very small round beige pellets (no sunflower seeds at all) and what looks like some thistle seed throughout. I've been using it in the feeder for a week but haven't seen a gold finch since. I did see purple finches yesterday evening when I put the new birdseed in, and this morning, a couple of sparrows and another blackbird!!

So, I'm now I'm not even sure if this bag is the same bird seed I had before that attracted the gold finches. It is a 10# bag and it was almost 10.00. If I have to pay more than that, I may as well stop feeding birds. I'm getting frustrated.

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Comments (3)

callalilykris
15 years ago
Goldfinches love just plain thistle (nyjer) seed. They also eat black oil sunflower seed or hulled sunflower seed. I have found that they do not care for the mixed finch seed. I get the thistle seed at Lowe's for $12.98 for 8 lbs. That's the cheapest I've found. If you want to attract goldfinches, that's what you need.
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hawkeye_wx
15 years ago
The goldfinches here love sock feeders filled with nyjer seed. I'm currently spending $1.09/lb for nyjer/thistle at a local garden store. I definitely spend more money on nyjer than any other food. If I don't hang the socks I won't see any goldfinches so, even though I'm pretty tight with my money, I buy what I have to. It would help a lot if all the house sparrows around here didn't eat from the socks as well. Not only do they eat the nyjer, but they also dump a lot of it on the ground.
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Jean, I am in Dawsonville. I have posted to my neighborhood news, told the local bird supply store which I am sure thrills them no end and not something they want to advertise, told my HOA board. I was sort of peeved because they made a joke of it and wondered if the birds had "gotten into some of those bad peanuts". Not funny. I have found a lot of dead birds as I am in the woods often and know where they roost. In one spot where the juncos roost there were dead juncos all over the ground. I have 4 juncos out of a zillion left, 2 siskens and 1 goldfinch. I tried to tell the neighborhood as nicely as possible to keep an eye on personal pets, it's contagious, children should not pick up dead birds, and gee, we should have major bug issues this summer if our insect eating permanent resident birds get killed. They are nice people but they just don't get that everything ties together. It's a non-issue to them and I am just the crazy wildlife lady who gets a pat on the head. I'm actually fairly middle class normal. I don't know what else to do. I'm not even some ecology wildlife fanatic, just a woman who grew up in deep woods. I guess it's part of my upbringing to be aware of nature and I just don't understand the blase attitude. Then they open the door and let their cat out. I don't mean to rant, it's just sad to me.
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van_texan
14 years ago
I have been a birder for several years and seldom see goldfinches in North Texas except in winter and then on thistle feeders.
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