Few years ago I had lots of goldfinches, so many that I bought a 22 perch niger seed feeder and it was 'standing room only, single line, please' most of the time, also had a sock like shown above and had to refill it weekly. But ..... they've become more sparse over the past 2-3 years. I didn't realize they migrated North, so were probably just passing thru, but stayed longer back then. My 'Birds of the Carolinas' book (author Stan Tekiela) says goldfinches are "becoming less common near the Coast in summer, leaving in April for nothern states". My copy is a 2001 copyright date so that's pretty old news. That said, I have seen a couple in the past week - they are so pretty, wish they'd hang around!

I am new to bluebirding and I stopped by to ask a question, which you answered with your lovely pictures. I was wondering if it would be ok to use a regular hinge on a nestbox. I had a hard time removing a wasp nest and re-soaping the ceiling so I replaced the original screw-hinge with a regular hinge. I see you have a regular hinge on yours, and it seems to be working out pretty well for you. Thanks for posting those wonderful pictures.

I saw the bird feeder on sale hmm have you fill it up with safflower I do a mix of sunflower and safflower but I got way toooooo many sparrows

Marianne, the rocks you are referring to are commonly referred to as river rocks. They are readily available at nurseries and garden centers. I did not think this up, I simply followed some helpful advice from some experienced growers. The principle is to add moisture to your growing area. Without going w high tech misters and things of that type, a cafeteria tray w a layer of river rocks in it does the trick. Just periodically add water and let the evaporation process introduce your created humidity to your plants. It works great and my plants have told me that they love it! Put your planters directly on top of the rocks. (I wick water so there are no holes in the bottoms of my planters. If you don't wick water, be sure the bottoms of your pots don't come in contact w the water or you'll have problems.) Incidentally, this increased moisture also requires a little more attention to ventilation. I accidentally caused massive powdery mildew issues shortly after increasing my humidity w/o increasing my ventilation. All is well now and wouldn't consider going w/o my rocks!