Goldfinch Report Is Good This Year!
I’ve made a goldfinch report at various times in the blog. I’ve written about years where the feeder traffic was enormous and other years where it was very sparse. There’s nothing really different about years except possibly the weather. I’ll talk about the reasons why I think the goldfinch report varies and some tips to make sure you’re getting as many as you can when they are abundant.
2017 Fall Goldfinch Activity
This year we’ve had quite a bit of very cold weather here in Middle TN. This has caused a big increase in feeding of all feeder birds in my back yard. Not the least of which are the goldfinches.
Up until winter, goldfinch traffic was hit or miss. Some days it would be fairly consistent and then they would disappear for a few days without warning. This happened without any change in temperatures. Nor was it at the time they usually have gone away to ravage the plants and flowers that have seeded. I literally could not tell from one day to the next what I would see out there.
The weird part was that it was true almost across the board with all my feeder birds. Especially in the fall. If it was cooler one day (not cold, cool) the traffic would pick up. If the temps warmed up even ten degrees it was like they weren’t concerned with my feeders at all.
Very odd!
Feeder Activity From Holidays to Now
Like I had mentioned earlier, we’ve had some really cold weather that set in for more than a day or two. This has caused a literal explosion of feeding, especially the goldfinches. I have two upside-down thistle feeders and a chickadee chip feeder just for them. Every day they are emptying the chip feeder (their favorite food in my observation) and making a noticeable dent in the upside-down feeders as well.
I can almost always tell when the chip feeder is empty without even looking at it. How? Because they are mobbing the thistle feeders, the squirrel proof sunflower seed feeder and even kicking around beneath my squirrel proof peanut feeder! Both my wife and I have remarked we can’t remember a recent time when it was this busy even during the winter.
The Way To Get More Goldfinches At Your Feeders
I know I’ve written about this before but it bears repeating as well as revising. Here’s what I recommend:
- Get yourself a chickadee sunflower chip feeder and place it close to your back door so you can see who’s eating from it.
- Don’t forget to offer clean water every day. Water is one of the easiest ways to increase feeder traffic. If you can, add water near where you place their feeders. We have a bath on our patio near the chip feeder and it gets a LOT of use by goldfinches.
- Keep your feeders clean! If you can’t remember the last time you cleaned your feeders they need it! I have seen goldfinch activity pick up when nothing changed but the feeder being cleaned. They are finicky that way. Take my word for it.
- Make sure you offer thistle in at least one tube feeder that house finches don’t prefer. Upside-down is best.
- If ANY of your seed is old, chuck it! They won’t eat it. This means if the thistle is not shiny or your sunflower chips looks mushy.
- Spend five to ten minutes just watching your backyard. Especially early morning to early afternoon. They are not big late afternoon feeders.
- If you can’t observe them yourself, set up a camera to take timed exposures throughout the day.
Give Me YOUR Goldfinch Report
Leave me a comment below and tell me what kind of numbers you’re seeing, where you’re located and what your winter has been like so far.
I love these little birds and try to do whatever I can to get more of them every year. I’d like to help you do the same.
Happy birding,
Jeff
I looked goldfinch-feeder-2018 up on the internet because we are being mobbed by them this year (currently 3/24/18). We seem to get nothing but goldfinches where we used to get chickadees, tufted titmice, purple finches as well. Our feeder is emptied daily, with masses of goldfinches waiting their turn. Upstate New York – March has seen heavy snow, which I am sure is part of the explanation. But where did the other birds go?
Hi Patrice,
I have had a similar surge in my goldfinch activity as my article talks about. However, I have not seen a decrease in any other species. Particularly with the house finches which I’ve had so much trouble with the eye disease with. No problem with that this year so far but I keep my eyes peeled and try to keep everything clean. I would say you will see a movement of other species into your area after the heavy snow subsides. I’m not an ornithologist and have no data except my 15 years of birding but one rule holds true. Bird feeding can be very cyclical and I’m sure you’ll see your other birds return very soon. I have never seen any species shy away from even a huge mob of goldfinches but I’m not saying it’s impossible either.
Thank you for visiting the blog, commenting and letting us know what’s happening in your neck of the woods. And please let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see covered on the blog. Jeff
I have many many gold finches this year, sadly I’ve seen 2 in the last few days with eye disease. One totally blind. I’ll be taking feeders down, bleaching, raking the ground. Feel so bad for them
Hi Mels,
I’m sorry to hear that about your goldfinches. I know how bad I felt the year I found one with that eye disease. Do you have a lot of house finches? They are usually the culprit. I applaud your choice to take them down and cleaning up. I would also recommend keeping them down for at least a week if you have a house finch presence there. It’s one of the reasons I try to keep a sharp eye out for sickly house finches. So far I have been fortunate. Right now, the house finches are playing “now you see me, now you don’t” and all but disappearing on days that aren’t very cool or cold. Jeff
We too, have been mobbed by goldfinches here in SW ONTARIO, even though it has been a very cool spring so far.
Hi Cathy,
So glad to hear that. Do you have the “goldfinch symphony” around you? Whenever they mass in great numbers the song is one of my favorite parts.
What are you feeding them?
Jeff
Hello Jeff. I just came online to see if I could find out why my gold finches suddenly disappeared. We bought a great thistle feeder and it has been loaded with both house and gold finches. I read your comments about washing the feeder and will take mine down, wash it with soap, bleach and a good brush. I was sorry to read the comments about the eye disease.. I would like to figure out if any of my finches have the eye disease. Do I need binoculars to do this? If so, what kind should I get? Not too expensive I hope.
Thanks, Pat
Hi Pat,
Binoculars are helpful but not required. Maybe it’s just the veteran birder in me talking though-LOL!
If your feeders are not too far away from your house, you should be able to spot house finches with the disease even at it’s earliest phases. Look for a lot of head shaking (like a dog shaking water off), birds just sitting on your birdbath for extended periods of time or birds that have a lot of trouble landing anywhere like they’re not sure where they are exactly. If you see ANY of these signs you can find a cheap pair of Bushnells like these: https://amzn.to/2LiD0t5 to confirm your suspicions. Look for swollen eyes and closed eyes.
If you can confirm this you MUST take down your feeders for at least two weeks and clean them before thinking about putting them back up. This should give the affected birds time to dissipate and move on away from your yard.
I will caution you that there are some who feel it is irresponsible to do it this way claiming the eye disease doesn’t last that long and that taking down your feeders only encourages them to spread it to other feeders and birds. I have been feeding for over 15 years and that is NOT my experience or belief. In my back yard, house finches will only infect every bird in the flock if you keep your feeders up. They can also infect other species like goldfinches. I feel it’s much better for them to have to seek out another source of food and possibly disband to some extent in the spring and summer. In winter, there is no argument they WILL infect other birds if left unchecked.
Let me know if I can be of any further help and email me a picture of your backyard if you can. I’d like to know more about your setup.
Best,
Jeff
Jeff
I have had a great turnout of goldfinches this year the first two weeks in May, now in a flick of a switch, like the Baltimore Orioles, they’re gone. I haven’t seen any sick birds at all, nor hawks. I have fresh seed, water, etc. Are they all nesting? Miss them terribly!
Ann from Iowa
Hi Ann,
Not to worry. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they’ve had them come and go at different times of the year. I’ve had the same experience.Right now, I’ve got plenty of them around but I’m about to switch out the sunflower chip feeder for a hummingbird feeder and I wouldn’t be surprised to see their numbers go down for a bit. According to Nestwatch (https://nestwatch.org/learn/focal-species/american-goldfinch/) they are late nesters and wait until milk thistle and other plants whose seeds they use to build nests. This can be as late as July depending on where you are. I would think Iowa would have them later because you don’t get warm as early as say, Nashville, where I’m at.
Just keep those feeders clean and the seed fresh (and make sure you have water for them) and I’m sure your little friends will return.
Jeff
I’m not seeing hardly any this year and last year I couldn’t keep feed in the feeders. Ames, Iowa
Hi Bob,
Could you tell me the last time you had large numbers? Did you have them during the winter, for instance?
And of course I have to ask the boilerplate question: have you had your feeders cleaned and the seed changed in a while? What are you feeding them? If thistle, is it still shiny or dull?
I just took down a sunflower seed chickadee chip feeder to allow my hummingbirds some space near our back door and the goldfinches have responded immediately by going elsewhere for the most part.
Hope we can figure this out and fix it.
Jeff
Hi Jeff. I am new to finch feeding this year but had loads of them eating for the past several months and now they all seem to be gone. I have two water sources nearby–a bath and a small fountain that I sometimes see one or two drinking out of, but the finches in general seem to be gone. Also, they seem to drop more seed than eat, and I currently have about 10 lbs on the ground underneath the two feeders that I have up (one a sock and the other a traditional finch feeder). Please any advice you have would be great! I miss my birds.
Hi JoAnn,
Thank you for stopping by! Just to be clear you are talking about your goldfinches, right? I wouldn’t worry too much because goldfinches seem to come and go depending on what’s blooming in your area. When they find another live seed source they’ll go to that until it’s gone. Then they should return. However, let me say that if your feeders haven’t been cleaned in a while that would cause it too. Goldfinches are very picky that way. The same goes for the seed hulls you say are on the ground. Get that area cleaned up as soon as possible because moldy seed hulls breed infectious diseases that any bird who eats from there can catch.
I’m guessing you also have house finches because of the amount of seed on the ground. They can mob feeders and leave a great deal of mess.
Finally, what are you feeding your goldfinches? Thistle is good but they LOVE sunflower chips more than anything. If you can put some chips out in a feeder (like a chickadee feeder) they can have almost all to themselves, you’ll see a great increase in them in no time.
Hope this helps,
Jeff
Hi Jeff. Thanks for the info. I cleaned my sack and the feeder and bought fresh Nyjer seed and they are back! I looked at the local feed store for sunflower chips and they didn’t carry any, but they had seeds out of the shell. I didn’t purchase because they seemed so big for these tiny birds and I already have sparrows trying to hone in on the feeder! I feed the sparrows black oil sunflower out front and the finches in the back but those sparrows are greedy and eat a lot! Thanks again for the help in getting my little friends back.
Hi JoAnn,
So glad I could be of help! The sunflower seeds out of the shell are exactly what you want for them if you can put it in a clinging type feeder for them. Do you have squirrels? If so, it will have to be in a feeder that hangs very close to your back door. They love those seeds and will entertain you for hours coming and going. Do you live near a Walmart? They usually have those seeds for cheaper than feed stores.
My local Wild Birds Unlimited also feeds house sparrows but I’ve found a way to keep them away most of the year. They don’t need our help as much as other birds do. Even in winter I have very few of them because I discourage them with my feeders and offerings. If you feed any of those cheaper seed mixes you’re inviting trouble-LOL!
You never said where you were located.
Jeff
Hi Jeff. I live in Southern CA, in between LA and Palm Springs, close to the mountains. I live in a newer housing development though so not a lot of established trees. Lots of birds around but also lots of prey like hawks, owls, and falcons to scare them away.
Very cool, JoAnn!
I think if you can get those hulled sunflower seeds you’ll be entertained watch the goldfinches chew on them while the seed skins dangle from their mouths like little kids.
Jeff
I live in PA outside of Philly. You’re right about cleaning the bird feeder. I left the thistle bird feeder out over the winter. It became clogged and dirty. By early summer, when the yellow finches were not coming around, I totally cleaned out the bird feeder, of course tossing the old seed, etc. I let it dry completely in the hot sun before putting seed back in. Within about 4 days, my yellow finches came around. They were here from June until now, the first week of August. All of a sudden, I haven’t seen any in days! so disappointed. I checked it to be sure it wasn’t clogged.
Hi Lynette,
Thanks for stopping by and telling us about your goldfinches!
Good on you for cleaning up that feeder! Goldfinches are by far the most picky feeders I’ve had experience with. In fact, I have two feeders now that are slowing down because the feeders need cleaning.
Don’t worry. Your goldfinches will be back. In this time of the year they go looking for flowers that have gone to seed. One of my biggest surprises has been two big baskets of zinnias. My goldfinches are coming and going regularly to them and picking the seeds out of the flower heads. I had not read about this and both my wife and I were very pleasantly surprised to see it. I remember both of us saying “is that goldfinch doing what I think he is?” LOL! And he WAS! I’ll probably be writing about that very soon in the blog.
Trust me when I say they WILL be back!
If you don’t mind me asking…what type of feeder do you feed them with? I use the upside down thistle feeders by Perky Pet, I believe. I did it because I have a huge flock of house finches in my area who will mob all my feeders if I don’t do something. The other thing goldfinches don’t like is being bullied by them-HA! No kidding!
Look forward to hearing more about your bird feeding setup.
Jeff
I live in Gaston County NC. I’ve noticed in the last couple of months many housefinches with closed up and/or crusty eyes. Now the Goldfinches are coming to our feeders and they too have this eye problem. I feel so bad for them. Is this common or is something happening that should be reported?
Hi Amy,
Thanks for stopping by and telling us about your goldfinches.
I have written earlier about the importance of taking down feeders at the first sign of house finch eye disease. I know there is some disagreement in the birding community about this. Others say taking them down only causes the sick ones to take it elsewhere. In my experience the infection spreads a LOT quicker by not taking them down. House finch eye disease can spread like wildfire. Especially in the critical winter feeding period. Here’s that link: https://wp.me/pMtRM-G
And just so you know, I didn’t follow my own advice and caused at least one goldfinch to get sick. Here’s that post: https://wp.me/pMtRM-s9
I would recommend you take down your feeders right now for at least two weeks, thoroughly clean them with a 10% bleach solution and soap, let them dry completely and then put them back up.
Goldfinches CAN catch this disease for sure!
I hope my story and my response here are helpful. Please do NOT read this as judgmental either. We’re all human and can make mistakes. What’s most important here is we can also correct most of them.
Have a great Labor Day!
Jeff
I live in Dayton, OH. This has been a banner year for Goldfinches. However, about 3 days ago the disappeared. I think it’s still too early for the males to be losing their bright yellow feathers. Cant figure out where they have gone.
Hi Ted,
You’re right. It IS too early for the males to be losing their bright feathers. I wouldn’t worry too much right now. There are LOT of plants and flowers going to seed. In fact, mine are all but gone right now. They’ll be back before too long. Hope this helps.
Let me know when they do return.
Jeff