I have no idea whether this thought applies to Nyger and Sunflower, or for that matter, mixes with one or more kinds of millet and some safflower seed, but in my days with a research flock of budgerigars, it may be the mix that is the best diet. It transpires that canary seed and millet seed have very different and somewhat complimentary nutritional profiles. For their seed portion of the diet, it was supposed to be much better for budgies to eat both, and indeed they did (except when fearful, when they switched to all millet, but that is another story).
But to relate it to what everyone sees at their feeders, budgies do NOT eat equal amounts of the two seeds which do require different processing techniques. If one followed what they were eating seed by seed vs spending time eating vs were interested in eating after only one was available for a while, one might come up with different impressions on their preferences. So I wonder--even if goldfinches are concentrating on sunflower chips (speedy and oily and big return on time), do they also occasionally eat nyger as a more complete diet? I don't know that I have ever seen a study looking at preferences before or after having only one choice--and that might be when one would notice an unusual or opposite preference for a time. As observers, we might interpret visits to another feeder as "avoiding more dominant species", when in fact the bird is making its quick diet-completing stop! Anne On Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 7:26 PM Fred Rimmel <fredrim...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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/ > > -- > > > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME.htm> > Rules and Information > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES.htm> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > ABA <https://www.aba.org/birding-news/> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.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/ --
