I'm a couple of hours south of you in IL. I see finches on the feeder daily, mostly house Finches this time of year. I get an occassional Nuthatch on the feeder. But if I go to the woods, Nuthatches are one of the most common birds I see. They are also one of the least shy birds I see in the woods. If you remain still, they will not pay you much attention to you as they go about their work and often get within 15-20 feet of me. In my experience, Nuthatches are one of the birds that prefer feeders without alot of commotion. If you have lots of other birds around, they are less likely to visit. While other birds are attracted to the commotion other birds, unfortunately these are usually the less desireables, (HOSP, Starlings, Doves, Pigeons, crows, etc).

I decided to put up a thistle seed feeder (a cheap Mr. Canary) and put it at some place quiet next to the trees. Much to my surprise I got a few gold finches dropping by for a meal. I thought it would take a month or so, but it only took two days for them to show up.

Still no Nuhatches though.

Paul

Paul,
We live 30 minutes WEST of NIU and all we ever see is finches! Large new contruction rural lots, I have no cover what so ever and we have 3 finch feeders that we must fill on a daily basis. Finches and sparrows. Never a cardinal or a wren or a nuthatch. It drives my hubby nuts, I am ready to drag our Christmas tree out into the yard to provide cover. Recently, we invested in a bird bath with the warmer and we were getting juncos and horned larks and guess what???
A hawk has taken up residence in the lot next door and now we never see even the little finches!!
Bird watching can be so frustrating!!!

sissy,

I am fortunate that I live near a lot of trees. The birds hide out there a lot, protected from the hawks.

I put my ground feeder under trees and the finch feeder next to a tree. A hawk shows up roughly twice a day now, but I haven't seen him caught anything. The finch feeder is so close the tree that the finch and tree sparrows just jump into the branches whenever the hawk drops by.

I usually get about 8 cardinals a day, a bunch of chickadee, a bunch of tree sparrows, some song sparrow, a bunch of junco's, and a ton of house sparrows. Actually, the hawk does keep the house sparrows away. Whenever it shows up, the sparrows disappear for a few hours.

The christmas tree is a pretty good idea. If you start a brush pile, Birds will have a hiding place and shelter. Don't put it too close to the house though in case rats and mice, and other critter takes up residence there.

I cannot comment on the appearance of Nuthatches in the Chicago area, but here in Youngstown, Ohio there certainly is an abundance of them.

I just went out to fill my bird feeders and I observed 5 Nuthatches on the suet feeder, two on my hopper type seed feeder, two on the ground under the seed feeder and at least 3 more higher up in the Maple tree.

The Nuthatches, Chicadees and Titmouse have become so accustomed to me that I can generally stand about 6ft from the hopper feeder, camera in hand, and they continue to come and go to the feeder.

When he weather is milder I often set up my camera on a tripod about 10 to 20 feet from the feeder, attach a remote shutter release, then I sit motionless in a lawn chair and watch the activity, all the while tripping the shutter with the remote cord concealed in my pocket. Frequently I am buzzed by the Chicadees as they come for a closer look at what i am doing, and on one occasion I actually had a Chickadee land on the camera and sit their looking at me from about 3 feet away.

On the other hand, I have yet to see the first finch appear this year.

I am concerned about the lack of Gold Finches here in NE Texas, west of Tyler. Usualy we are cover up with these little fellows, right now -- zero, nada??? I am reading of die offs in NJ, PA, TN, but are not seeing any birds at all?? They usually migrate down here in the winter and leave at the first sign of Spring - just before the males put on their colors. Anyone else missing these little guys.

Is NE Texas particularly warm? I recall that finches like natural food, so if the weather is good, they will eat from the wild than from the feeder.

In my case Chicago is covered in snow, so the finches are hungry and visit often.