Aggressive House Finches (1 Viewer)

[Speedy123]

Hello! I have a bird feeder-camera system which has been fun to save videos and to view the birds so close up. But the house finches have taken over and will sit in the middle of the seeds and eat like crazy while chasing the other birds away -- chickadees, titmouse, goldfinches, etc. I plan to close up shop there because they can't "share" the one feeding station and I will get some tube feeders and sock feeders and put them close to the camera. But my question for you bird experts is, (I'm new to feeding birds again after a 15-year hiatus), what are the best seeds to encourage the smaller birds and discourage house finches? I know house finches aren't big, but these are bigger than my smaller, more desirable birds. It seems whatever goldfinches like, the house finches will, too. Should I just make sure there are several feeding stations so everyone gets a chance? Thanks for any help! :-D

 

[Speedy123]

I will answer my own question for anyone reading this. I put out a small tube feeder and a finch sock. And I stopped putting seeds and nuts in the camera hopper with the platform that some birds were gobbling while defending. That way, there are several perches to choose from and it's much more equitable. No one can aggressively defend one feeding spot anymore. And by the way, there was a "baby" cowbird being fed by a junco and this "baby" is huge. It was also sitting in the seed tray, another reason to stop food in the camera tray. The cowbird can't perch on the small tube perches and even the house finches have to work a little harder to stay on them for long. So the chickadees, goldfinches, and titmouse are all happy birds now.