• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Nyjer seed not attracting goldfinches ? (1 Viewer)

T

Thegeezer9999

Well-known member
Ireland
When I lived in a second floor apartment, I had anything up to 20 goldfinches feeding hungrily on the nyjer feeder. When I moved to a house with a back garden, I thought they would continue to visit, but so far not a single bird has visited. I thought it may just be the time of the year, but I remember that on the apartment balcony, the birds fed all year round. What was particularly lovely was seeing up to 10 of the chicks waiting impatiently to be fed by their parents !!
I am also seeing plenty of goldfinches in the surrounding woods and fields, so is this just a matter of time, or am I wasting my time expecting them to come into a ground level garden to feed ? Should I just wait till spring before I put out more nyjer ?

Thank you
 
I think it’s a matter of time. It can take birds a while to realise there’s a new restaurant around.
 
I have had sunflower hearts out from get go. We have a resident blue tit couple, very occasional great tit, daily robin, loads of sparrows, clumsy attempts by starlings and even pigeons !! But sadly no goldfinches - yet.
Will persevere with the latter and also keep a low level supply of nyger and hope for the best.
Thanks all fir replies, thought might just be a “we’ll feed from comfy balconies but not on garden feeders” thing 😂👀😤
 
Thegeezer9999 said:
When I lived in a second floor apartment, I had anything up to 20 goldfinches feeding hungrily on the nyjer feeder. When I moved to a house with a back garden, I thought they would continue to visit, but so far not a single bird has visited. I thought it may just be the time of the year, but I remember that on the apartment balcony, the birds fed all year round. What was particularly lovely was seeing up to 10 of the chicks waiting impatiently to be fed by their parents !!
I am also seeing plenty of goldfinches in the surrounding woods and fields, so is this just a matter of time, or am I wasting my time expecting them to come into a ground level garden to feed ? Should I just wait till spring before I put out more nyjer ?

Thank you
Click to expand...
i was putting out niger seed for a number of years but no goldfinches, i was using green coloured feeders, the moment i changed to yellow feeders it was a big success, i now have upto 20 goldfinches at a time (y)
 
Also if you have other feeders for different species, the general activity round the feeders tends to attract the goldfinches in.
 
pianoman said:
Also if you have other feeders for different species, the general activity round the feeders tends to attract the goldfinches in.
Click to expand...
Well I have the entire Irish population of starlings coming to my gaff, but to be honest, if I arrived and found these noisy gets already there, I would be googling nearest alternative food establishments 😂😂😂
 
My American goldfinches have never been huge on nyjer, maybe your European ones are the same? Sometimes they'll come and eat it but they seem to strongly prefer the sunflower and safflower and my nyjer often goes uneaten for long enough I have to throw it out. I have tried it a couple times but it's pricey so I probably won't pick it up next restock.
 
Strange one. As I said, when I used to feed them on the balcony, they virtually moved into the nyjer zone - in fact I had to repurpose another feeder to keep up with! This was especially true when the chicks arrived. I even saw the occasional starling squabble amongst them ! So maybe it sometimes comes down to level of comfort and safety. On the balcony the chicks had room to stand back and do their little dance to demand food, and the only predators there would be airial ones. In the garden they would need to take turns to come to feed, and the dreaded cats are always a danger. It sounds like either myself or the goldfinches were rather spoiled at the last place 😂😂😂
 
I have water in a 2 inch deep tray that has goldfinches arriving daily to drink. At this time of the year they are more interested in a feeder with white millet than the one with nyjer seed.
 
Thegeezer9999 said:
If I can dig out the old pictures, can we upload a few here ?
Click to expand...
Sorry, I missed your post earlier. Certainly you can upload your pictures here. If you have a few, it is best to use the "paper clip" button at the bottom which will place thumbnails at the bottom of your post.
 
Well this is kind of timely. First 3 goldies ventured in to check out the sunflower hearts. At one point it was like the old days with one each side of the feeder !!
Thanks to everyone here, hoping this will now be their favourite restaurant 👍👍👍
 

Similar threads

EK_Birds
Are chaffinches a bit thick ?
Replies
3
Views
709
wolfbirder
wolfbirder
B
Sparrowhawk on my balcony
Replies
10
Views
2K
Bianca070
B
S
Need advice re first year nest box
Replies
5
Views
2K
esxi1979
E
B
TUCSON BACKYARD- bird killed by an animal- WHAT KIND OF BIRD?
Replies
2
Views
3K
Engineeringtech
E
Georgebirds
Free fluff for all!
Replies
5
Views
1K
pianoman
pianoman

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top