All posts in Finch Feeding and Diet

Where most backyard birds shift between insects, fruit, and seed depending on the season, finches stay remarkably committed to one food source: seed, from the moment they hatch to the end of their lives. This makes them the most straightforward seed specialists in the North…

Nyjer, often still sold under its older common name “thistle,” is a small, oil-rich seed that goldfinches, siskins, and redpolls are drawn to more strongly than almost any other feeder food — but freshness matters here more than it does for almost any other backyard…

Because the five common backyard finch species split fairly cleanly into a nyjer-preferring group and a sunflower-preferring group, a complete finch feeding setup generally means running two different feeder types rather than expecting one design to satisfy every visiting species. Nyjer Feeders Built around very…