Unlike most other birds that come to our feeders, Goldfinches eat seed almost exclusively. In fact, unlike many other Finches, Goldfinch chicks are fed few, if any, insects. Instead they get the same seeds their parents eat. When a parent returns to feed its young, its crop is full of partially digested seed – Enough to feed the whole brood. Because of the amount of food brought each time, the young are only fed twice each hour. Perched at and around the feeders, Goldfinches eat seed after seed. It gives us a wonderful opportunity to watch them at length. We love the BirdQuest Spiral Feeder, as it has more openings per inch of feeder than standard “Perch Restricted” feeders and its “Flip N’ Fill” feature mean you can fill it from the top one time and the bottom the next. This means seed never gets old in the bottom of the feeder. Many people come in and complain “Finches” don’t eat the seed at the bottom – Well this is because it keeps getting packed down and draws moisture when you always fill from the top! Either get a BirdQuest feeder or remember to dump out and mix old seed in the bottom of the feeder with new seed, and then refill. Both solutions will help you attract more Finches. One of the keys to keeping Goldfinches around is eliminating their need to compete. Goldfinches will often just give up and fly away when other species crowd around a feeder. To enjoy Finches when they are bright gold, many people put out “extra” Finch feeders utilizing inexpensive thistle sacks. Try it – it works!
