This doesn't shock me after something I witnessed last year. We seemed to catch the "great goldfinch migration" with literally 40 to 50 finches in our yard during a 1 day period (our normal summer finch activity is 4 to 5 mating pairs of goldfinches and a few house finches). The goldfinches certainly swarmed the finch feeder, but the really weird behavior was how they all lined up at the border between the street and our yard in order to eat dandelion greens. To this day, I hay no idea why they were eating dandelion greens, but there is no question that is what most of the "flock" was doing. But eating chard leaves wouldn't surpise me.

Wow, this thread is still going! I finally beat the squirrels; I had winter sown a few sunflowers. While they were growing taller and taller every day, I was afraid to plant them in the ground; I knew the squirrels would get them. I cut up a piece of green wire fencing, creating a cage, about 3' tall. They're awesome!!!!! One came from my birdseed; I transplanted it and it grew to about 5', with a huge head. I also grew "Russian Giant" and "Lemon Queen"; they're huge. The house finches returned and always seem to chase the goldfinches away, but they're flocking to the plants; I love it! Agastache "Honey Bee Blue" Echinacea Rudbeckia Oenothera biennis Sunflowers Tithonia "Sundance" I even saw one pecking on my buddleia today. DH saw a few on the Agastache a few weeks ago; even he was impressed.

Offer a large variety of food mixes. I have tons of goldfinches and they like the thistle first, followed by sunflower. I also mix in finch mixes sold for caged finches. Fruit and nut mixes are liked by all, and plenty of suet for the woodpeckers, wrens, bluebirds, nuthatches, and brown creepers. Water is important as well as nearby cover. I have two ponds and 3 birdbaths (heated). You will get more bluebirds if you put out chopped raisons and grubs. You can buy seed mixes that have dried beetles in the mix. I also hang out slices of apples/pears/oranges, and hang clusters of grapes in the shrubs for the winter fruit eaters here. Bananas are also liked. The feeders I like best are open cages so the seed does not stay wet after rain, followed by tube feeders with big covers, and also use thistle socks which are standing room only. They dry out fairly well except sometimes at the bottom. You can also lay seed out along a fence if you have one, and throw some on the ground. You can make a simple platform feeder with a picture frame and a piece of screen. A large variety of food presented at different levels and feeder types will attrack a greater variety of birds. It helps too if you have woods nearby or a thickly planted wild area with berry type plants, and don't forget thick evergreens for cover. I feed year round so birds don't have to find the location. They know it well, as do various hawks that come for the smaller birds and squirrels. Just give it time and once they find it don't let more than a day or two go by where the feeders are empty or they will leave again. CT

Sorry to hear about the goldfinches. I do not know if it is related to the problem you are having but one time I had a similar situation and it turned out to be a batch of bad seed. Dumped out the seed, sanitized the feeder, replaced with fresh seed from a different supplier, and the birds came back. Chickadees used to be a common, friendly sight here - I even had them eating sunflower seeds out of my outstretched hand - but I have not seen a single one in two years now. Very disheartening. I think there are some serious environmental issues going on that we are not aware of (or are not being made fully aware of) that are destroying bird populations or are reducing species' ranges. Your dove story is funny... My goldfinches still feed to the left at least 90% of the time. Quite a funny observation that still makes me chuckle when I watch the little critters feed.