No Finches except Golden Ones ?

You may think I am being a little greedy here, but actually I am very curious as to what the answer might be, and may adjust feeding strategy accordingly. I am a relatively recent "feeder" to the bird community, and after putting out Nijer, Sunflower, peanuts, cocunut halves, and mixed seed + fatballs, we have a lively environment including the inevitable house sparrows; a couple of robins (who visited before they had any red breast and caused much confusion !); pair of blue tits; pair of great tits; irregular coal tit visits; goldfinches which seem to have moved in (!); and of course the less welcome Starlings (although they are HIGHLY entertaining); Pigeons; Magpies and occasional crow/jackdaw.

With this amount of visitors I believe I am very lucky, but nevertheless curious as to why we do not get ant finches (other than Goldfinches which are beautiful to watch) ?

It may have something to do with location, I am in Dublin, Ireland, and the feeding station is two floors up in an apartment complex.

Just wondered if you might shed some light on this please ?

Could be there is plenty of natural food in your area

Pete

Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

Hi, I'm a fellow newbie, from the east coast of Scotland.

I started offering a few different bird foods mid to late autumn last year and had a very similar collection of species, with the occasional surprise. Goldfinches were the first finches to arrive and the most numerous. The variety slowly increased over time to include greenfinches, chaffinches and siskins in smaller numbers with an occasional visit from a bullfinch. All but siskins disappeared for the summer. The other finches have just started coming back. So, as the more experienced posters said, you may get more as the weather gets colder.

Do you have a water tray or bird bath near your feeding station? Some birds seem to visit for the water, even if they don't use feeders.

sorry have not replied recently. I do have a rather lovely bird bath which all of the birds avail of ! I have recently started to hear the distinctive singing of the greenfinch, and actually saw one the other day (they are quite rare here), so I am hopeful that a few have moved in here locally, and maybe they will feed at the station. I have nyger + sunflower seeds here if they do ! If not I will content myself with the wonderful sight of the newly born goldfinches tail wagging and dancing to initiate feeding from their parents around my nyger seed feeder. Will send some pictures and/or videos when this season starts.

Thank you all for the wonderful interactive forum.

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