Finch Feeder Guide

Feeders with short perches accommodate small birds such as finches but exclude larger birds such as grackles and jays ¹. A mesh sock takes that further: there are no perches at all, and finches simply cling to the fabric and pull seed through it. Tube feeders also keep seed fairly dry, which matters with nyjer, a fine seed that clumps and molds when wet ¹.

The seed is the point. Nyjer, an imported seed, has become increasingly popular largely because of its ability to attract finches including American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll ¹. Black-oil sunflower is the preferred food for a wide variety of birds and is among the favorites of finches too ¹, so a second tube with sunflower chips beside the nyjer sock covers both.

American Goldfinches are the classic finch-feeder bird; at feeders they prefer nyjer and sunflower, and they do not mind feeders that sway in the wind ⁴. House Finches take black-oil sunflower over striped sunflower, along with millet and milo, and once they find a feeder they may bring flocks of 50 or more ⁵. In winter, Pine Siskins and — in irruption years — Common Redpolls join them at the same ports ¹.

Because House Finches are especially prone to mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, an eye disease spread at feeders, keeping a finch feeder clean is not optional: birds with red, swollen or crusty eyes mean the feeder comes down for a couple of weeks ².

Place feeders close to natural cover such as trees or shrubs, which offer birds refuge from predators, but not so close to strong branches that squirrels can jump across — a distance of about 10 feet is the usual guidance ¹. Windows are the other hazard: collisions kill perhaps a billion or more birds a year in North America, and older rules about safe feeder-to-window distances are no longer thought valid — if a window is near a feeder, treat the glass with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, external screens or cords, rather than worrying about the distance ³.

Squirrel baffles — barriers placed between squirrels and feeders — are usually the best defense. Squirrels can jump to feeders placed less than ten feet from a tree or building, so a pole-mounted feeder in the open with a baffle below it, or a tilting baffle at least 18 inches in diameter above a hanging feeder, is the arrangement that works ¹.

Clean seed and suet feeders regularly — every week or two, and more often during heavy use or wet weather — by scrubbing off debris and washing the parts thoroughly with warm water and dish soap ¹. Hummingbird feeders need cleaning far more often, every couple of days and ideally every time they are refilled; discard the solution and clean immediately at any sign of cloudy water or black mold ¹.

If a sick bird appears — House Finch eye disease shows as red, swollen, runny or crusty eyes, and avian pox as wart-like growths around the eye, bill, legs and feet — remove the feeders the bird is using for a couple of weeks and clean the feeders and the area thoroughly, so disease is not spread at the feeder ². Salmonellosis, caused by Salmonella bacteria, is a common cause of mortality in feeder birds and spreads the same way ².

1. Project FeederWatch (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Feeding Birds: feeder types, food types, placement and cleaning
2. Project FeederWatch — Sick Birds and Bird Diseases
3. All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Why Birds Hit Windows, and How You Can Help Prevent It
4. All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — American Goldfinch: Overview and Life History
5. All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — House Finch: Overview and Life History