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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JMCDA" data-source="post: 1330124" data-attributes="member: 71029">I was sort of in the same situation as you, I would see them in the garden, would hear them in the neighbourhood but would rarely if ever have them at my feeders - until this year.  I used to take my feeders down in the summer as we have excellent wild habitat for most birds in the warmer months but somewhere I read that you have to feed finches all summer long because the food they eat, and the food they feed their babies is in scarce supply until the end of the summer when the thistles are producing seed. This year I left a black oil sunflower tube hanging (as well as a niger tube but they didn't touch it) and I also planted a row of big sunflowers at the edge of the vegetable garden. I had a pair of goldfinches plus one male decide to make my yard their home, they fed daily all summer at the sunflower tube. and have enjoyed most of the sunflowers as they went to seed. They have raised good sized families as well, I counted 16 finches just this week perching and feeding on the purple coneflowers, zinnias and black eyed susans that I left standing after the fall garden cleanup, those are pretty well picked clean now, and there is a constant turn over of finches (plus 2 pair of house finches!) back at the sunflower tube, and they have decided they like the niger tube now that the weather is turning to snow.J</blockquote>