Hi, I am new to this but am after some help/advice with a distressing situation I have encountered over the last few months.
I have several feeding stations in my gardens with variety of food for large and small birds. I have been lucky enough to have an influx of Goldfinches, along with their young feasting on my sunflower hearts and nyger seed feeders.
All my feeders are Gardman or RSPB 4 port and specific nyger feeders, so I thought I was doing everything right.
However, a few months ago, and again yesterday, I have had the distressing sight of a dead baby goldfinch that has wedged itself in the bottom port of the feeder and not been able to get out. The first time, I was away for the weekend and the seed had dropped quite low, so I assumed the bird was trying to get the dregs from that feeder. But yesterday when I found the dead baby bird, the feeder was half full, but somehow it still managed to get stuck and die. Both instances were in a four port Gardman feeder.
I have now thrown out all feeders of this type and bought several different feeder types, one that empties into a little tray at the bottom and another with a more covered port.
Has anyone else had this issues? Is there something I am doing wrong, or something i should alter to prevent this happening?
Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated, as it is very sad finding these little birds in such a way knowing they have suffered due to me trying to be kind to them.
Thanks!
RhyGK
Hi RhyGK
I don't have any Gardman seed feeders, but I do have several Droll Yankees and RSPB seed and Nyjer feeders like the ones you mention and I have never seen nor heard of this problem before.
It might help if you can do a web search for Gardman seed feeders and show us exactly what the feeder looks like. This should be reported to Gardman and I'm sure they will be only too happy to investigate what might be happening.
Best wishes Chris
Click Here to see my photos
Hi RhyGK,
I'm with Woodpecker on this one and would suggest contacting Gardman as a matter of urgency in the hope that they can sort the problem out. The fact that it has happened twice would suggest either a faulty feeder or worse case a faulty design which would mean potentially lots of 'lethal' feeders hanging in trees and on fences all across the country! I think our birds have enough to worry about without this as well?...
Not sure what the RSPBs take would be on it but I would imagine that they would be very interested also??
There are potentially four steps you can take if you discover a bird feeder you have bought has a flaw or defect which makes it dangerous to wild birds.
As morbib as it sounds, pictures of the dead bird in the feeder will highlight the problem.
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Hi All,
Thanks for your feedback. I have mailed Gardman to advise on the clear issue I have encountered and am waiting to hear back. The new feeders I have bought appear to have totally different dispensing holes so I am confident I shouldn't encounter this issue again. The old feeders are now long gone as the bin men have taken them away.
I am just hoping the goldfinches come back now, as I haven't seen them for a few days so think they may have been scared off by the incident.
How distressing for you RhyGK!
I am sure your birds will return. At this time of year many birds especially the finches who tend to flock in groups for the Winter, tend to move around exploiting all the sources of food they can find. In most areas there is a lot of natural food around still so they may just be having a party where there is a good buffet and when that is exhausted they will tour the district looking for the next gig!!
Chin up
Jenni
God gave us two ears and one mouth for a very good reason!
So sorry to read about your find R,it must have been such a dreadful sight and very upsetting for you.
I have never used the feeder you mention and never had anything like that happen to me thank goodness.
I am sure your birds will return very soon.:0)
An optimist sees the beauty of the complete rose.A pessimist sees only the thorn .
HI All,
I have just received a response from Gardman Customer Services. They have advised the feeders I had were the 'Premiere' range that have recently been replaced by the 'Premium Flip Top' range.
They have offered to send me some of the new style feeders to replace the ones I had to dispose of due to the goldfinch deaths.
They have also advised that the ports on the old feeders were of standard design for dispensing seed and that these incidents appear to be unfortunate yet previously unreported. However, having replaced my feeders myself on the weekend with one of this new style (plus several other styles) I am aware that the ports are not the same as the 'killer' feeder ports. They seem to be more open and encourage the bird to place their head straight down and not give them room to twist as they did in my old ones.
I am hoping the new feeders will abolish any further incidents in my garden and I will be ensuring they are all topped up constantly to remove unnecessary risk.
And good news, I have seen a few goldfinches come back today and feed from their new All you can eat buffet :)
Thanks to you all for your comments and advice.
That sounds like a good resolution of your horrid problem! Good luck!
I think your advice about keeping the feeders topped up is excellent - we should all make a note!
I agree with Jenni .It is always great to keep the feeders topped up but Goldies should never get stuck in any feeder(small bird).Thank goodness that has never happened to me in 30 years.
Now and again these accidents will happen and are out of our control .We should learn from our experience and warn others.