Back in the 80’s I participated in a bird feed and feeder study conducted for USFW out of Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. One of the results was that the “favorite” food of goldfinches was hulled sunflower kernels. That’s not to say they won’t eat other seeds just that when given options and when they aren’t out competed at the feeding station by other species they prefer hulled sunflower. This was just one of the results of the study that looked at numerous seed types and presentation methods. We feed just hulled sunflower in our feeders and in recent weeks regularly have 30 to 75 or more goldfinches at a time. Also, had a few pine siskin for the first time today. Fred
> On Jan 31, 2024, at 7:02 PM, Geo Kloppel <geoklop...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Black oil sunflower seed in the big hopper, sure, but I offer Nyjer all by > itself in a dedicated finch feeder, and the Goldfinches are very happy with > that. I buy 5# bags at Agway; Lizzie Mae’s Birdseed and Dry Goods Company. > The bags are zip-lock, but I transfer the Nyjer to 1-qt plastic jugs with > screw caps; they stand up in the back of the fridge or freezer, taking up > very little space, and they make topping-up the feeder very easy and neat. > > -Geo > > >> On Jan 31, 2024, at 5:22 PM, Nigel Dyson-Hudson <caven...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Some folks on CAYUGABIRDS-L fill their feeders with different seeds - >> Sunflower, Niger, etc. We have tried this in the past with Sunflower and >> Niger seed feeds. Even the Goldfinches barely touched our Niger seed. It was >> "fresh" from Agway, stored in the fridge until put out. Forget about the >> mixes with Milo and Corn. >> So now we just put out Sunflower seed, spread some seed on trays on the >> ground. Last winter we had a Mourning Dove that figured out how to land on >> our rectangular metal feeder. Which was quite entertaining to watch. Since >> this feeder has a squirrel baffle on the post, we have used a stick to fix >> the movable perch in place. >> Nigel >> >> -- >> >> (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") >> >> Cayugabirds-L List Info: >> NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm >> NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm >> NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm >> >> ARCHIVES: >> 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html >> 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds >> 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ >> >> Please submit your observations to eBird: >> ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ >> >> -- > > -- > > (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm > NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm > NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html > 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
