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House Finches, a threat? (1 Viewer)

CBSlayer2004

Well-known member
Yesterday a new bird showed up at my feeders. They were House Finches and there was at least 2 pairs of them. At first I welcomed them, but then they seemed to keep some birds from feeding at times. I got a little worried about the 4 feeders they were using, but one they would stay away from is my big tube feeder. Could they be a threat to my other bird's feeding habits?
 
Not at all. Even if they came in a larger flock, everybody would get a chance to get some food. I've had up to 40 house finches, 20 juncos, 20 chipping sparrows, and a handful of several other species in the yard at the same time. There's always some squabbling and tussling over "territory" but nobody goes hungry. Just sit back and enjoy seeing nature in action! ;)
 
I would have to agree with Katy. If we were referring to House Sparrows now, that is definitely a different story where bird houses are concerned.
 
The birds that eat at my feeder everyday include: Northern Cardinals, Chipping Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, and House Finches.
 
CBSlayer2004 said:
Yesterday a new bird showed up at my feeders. They were House Finches and there was at least 2 pairs of them. At first I welcomed them, but then they seemed to keep some birds from feeding at times. I got a little worried about the 4 feeders they were using, but one they would stay away from is my big tube feeder. Could they be a threat to my other bird's feeding habits?

House Finches can be aggressive and hog feeders at times as you have noticed. I have seen them stand up to Northern Cardinals who are bigger. You have a few options and I will share them with you.

First, the most reasonable is to simply put out more smaller feeders and spread them out. They dont necessarily have to be real fart apart. I find that if they are just a few feet apart, most the times the house finches are content to guard their own little feeder and wont fly over to another one to stop birds from eating at a neighboring feeder. But you can just experiment til you get the right distance.

Secondly, you can put out restricted feeders. For example, I have a bluebird feeder (its a feeder with a 1.5" hole that the birds have to fly thru to get to the seed or mealworms, etc) that I put black oil sunflower seeds in and only the Carolina Chicadees and Tufted Titmice use it for the most part. Therefore, the House Finches can't tie that feeder up and its always available to the species that I previously mentioned. Another real good option is an upside down seed cake feeder which the Chicadees, Wrens, and Titmice dont mind using, but the House Finches dont seem to prefer. I have attached some pics of the special feeders for you to see below.

One thing I do not recommend (despite what others say) is to remove seeds that the House Finch likes, because when you do that, you end up losing other bird species and to me its just better to figure out how to allow for all species to eat instead of trying to run off a species by deleting a seed offering. I have Grackles, Blue Jays, House Finches and other feeder hog birds feed at my feeders and I have no problem making arrangements so that all birds can participate, both big and small.
 

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CBSlayer2004 said:
Yesterday a new bird showed up at my feeders. They were House Finches and there was at least 2 pairs of them. At first I welcomed them, but then they seemed to keep some birds from feeding at times. I got a little worried about the 4 feeders they were using, but one they would stay away from is my big tube feeder. Could they be a threat to my other bird's feeding habits?

Hi: Not an expert, but can only relate from my experience. Have 6 to eight house finches in the neighborhood currently. They prefer the tray black sunflower feeder and don't seem to bother the wb nuthatches that also hang out there. Nuthatches come down from the top, grab a seed and take it off to a tree to crack it before the h finch knows they were there.

Related experience with feeder aggression. Have an eight station niger tube feeder, 4station cracked sunflower feeder, and 4 station safflower favored by about 20 lesser goldfinches. Had to put sheets of plywood under these as the goldfinches were spilling twice as much as they were eating. Now, three days ago >25 <50 pine siskins showed up hopefully for the winter. They are quite agressive and try to chase the goldfinches as well as their brethren. Doesn't work. Just too many places to protect. Have 20 to 30 mixed birds at a time on the feeders, and on the plywood sheets, feeding in relative harmony. Stellers Jay comes in to my suet feeder, and because of his size, spooks the whole gang. Ten minutes later they are all back.

Incidentally, Cornell Lab of Onithology Feeder Watch Program
www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw is soliciting members to report their observations to the House Finch Disease Survey. I'm going to sign up when I send my first feeder report Nov 13
Craig
 
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