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Goldfinches...come back!

Hi all

I've been lurking for the past few days and have really enjoyed some of the discussions and pics, so thought I would post!

My girlfriend and I moved into our house in October '17 and in our first spring noticed that we had a pair of Goldfinches that had made a nest in the outer branches of our neighbours tree that had branched out above our fence panels. They stayed for a while but there were no signs of any eggs or chicks. Due to the vast renovation work we had to do (and still have to do) we had a couple of bonfires, mostly before the Goldfinches arrived, but one when we knew they were nesting. We don't have a huge garden but it is big enough to have the bonfire a comfortable distance from the nest, however the wind was a bit of a pain and I remember it seemingly blowing smoke in every direction. This was last summer and although they didn't leave the nest straight away, a few days later they were gone and never returned. We were really sad as we felt we had smoke them out, and almost certainly did.

We had purchased quite a bit of Niger seed and sunflower hearts whilst they stayed, but I think I only ever saw them eat once from the feeder, although the more I learn the more I think this was probably down to the feeder we were using (certainly in the case of the Niger seed).

Well at the weekend two Goldfinches came back into the garden to mooch around, still paying no interest to the feeders. Since then I have purchased an appropriate feeder for the Niger seed and sunflower hearts, so I am hoping this might help them to stick around. Unfortunately once they had abandoned the nest we decided to cut the tree branches back, but there is still plenty of space if they wish to nest back there. 

If anyone has any ideas on whether it  was indeed the bonfire that saw them flee, or if Goldfinches abandon nests for no apparent reason, then please let me know your thoughts, as well as any other tips on how to help them feel more at home in our garden. We have blue and great tits, blackbirds, sparrows, wood pigeons and starlings that visit frequently, but I really love those little red faced birds and would love to see them more often (we even named our house The Goldfinches).

Thanks for reading all of that (if you did)

Lorri

  • I find that my goldfinches are not interested in the big niger seed feeders, but what they do love are the little yellow feeders sold as "try out niger seed" at many garden centres. I have two - they are always busy and need refilling daily, whereas the "proper" feeder stays full. They love sunflower hearts too, of course.
  • I second the advice about sunflower hearts! I have a charm of goldfinches who are regulars in my garden - usually there are somewhere between 15 and 20, but they sometimes seem to get together for a massive party, and we did once have 100+ birds eating the seeds on next door's leylandii. They really love the grey sunflower seeds, not the black ones with husks.

    I think it sometimes takes a few years to build up a large feeding population of birds. It's actually good to put out all types of food, because different species seem to encourage each other to come in, like a kind of collective confidence.
  • We have only seen Goldfinches feeding on the Niger seed feeder when there are many Goldfinches in the garden at the same time and then only one or two will eat the Niger seed. However, we have also had Siskins feeding at the Niger seed feeder, but again, only one or two out of a flock will eat Niger seeds. Mostly, both Goldfinches and Siskins seem to prefer sunflower hearts.
  • Little update: I worked from home yesterday so my office was our kitchen that looks out onto the garden. We did a small bit of landscaping at the weekend and replaced our feeders and re-positioned them. Our normal seed mix and fat ball feeders were moved to the tree and replaced with a feeder of niger seeds, one of sunflower hearts and one of peanuts. I sat down about 8:30am and on cue a goldfinch landed on top of the feeding station, had a quick look but flew off. That was it as far as the feeding station was concerned for the entire day. The 20 or so sparrows emptied the feeders in the front garden, we had collared doves, wood pigeons and a few blackbirds feed from some seeds/mealworm on the floor, but that was my lot. Around 5pm I noticed 10 (a record for me) goldfinches in the silver birch tree opposite our garden, but they didn't come down and did the off shortly after.

    I say all this because today I am back in my office in London, but my girlfriend has just text me excitedly to inform me of 4 goldfinches feeding on the sunflower hearts and niger seeds. She has taken some pictures on my camera and I will upload some later. Made my day!
  • Glad the new feeder positions are working and the goldies are returning. Mind you, it's typical they waited until you were back in your office, they do it on purpose, you know :)
  • I have a Niger seed feeder and a Sunflower feeder that hang together on the same stand, Goldfinches, Finches and the Siskin's feed from both and can be emptied in a day.
  • Thanks for the help Alan (again)

    Pictures aren't the best as they are through the back door and my girlfriend wasn't sure how to work the camera, but I think she did ok!