Nyger seed

[Rockin Robin]

it took six months for goldfinches to visit my garden! Expecting them to eat nyger feed, instead they ate sunflower seeds. Now I have siskins on the niger feeder, and redpolls, which i read are not feeder birds.

[PiratesAhoy!]

Sisks and greenies will also take niger seed, so that's quite normal. Goldfinches can be sometimes a bit peculiar about where they eat - sometimes they prefer the niger feeders with the small holes.

They also like to eat away from the other birds if possible, and with some nearby cover, so they can bolt if they feel threatened. A nearby tree is good for this, preferably coniferous.

[storye_book]

i am wondering whether it was really goldfinches that you saw, because goldfinches certainly cannot eat black or striped sunflower seeds, as they cannot hull them (wrong type of beak). they would still have great difficulty with sunflower hearts, but they might just manage them if ground up. they can manage only tiny seeds, or bits of soaked softbill food.

here (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/goldfinch/index.asp) is a picture of a goldfinch, on the rspb website. it would be very interesting if you were able to confirm that you saw a goldfinch hulling sunflowers. if it was not a goldfinch that you saw, there are lots of other bird descriptions here (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/index.asp) on the rspb website, and you can easily find the bird you're looking for - a greenfinch has yellow on it, and perhaps that's what you saw.

enjoy your birdwatching

it took six months for goldfinches to visit my garden! Expecting them to eat nyger feed, instead they ate sunflower seeds. Now I have siskins on the niger feeder, and redpolls, which i read are not feeder birds.

[Sahbster]

First posting from me. I have just moved into a bungalow in Upminster Essex and inherited a large feeder from the previous owner. She left me a 10kg bag of sunflower hearts. I have counted upto 6 Goldfinches at one time feasting on these whole hearts. I was thinking of getting a niger seed feeder but they seem quite happy with the whole hearts.

[storye_book]

hi sahbster

well that sounds very interesting. i suppose there's no chance of a picture? it's funny that there's no evidence so far of this new phenomenon.

[Sahbster]

Storye_book,

My days off next week are Monday and Thu/Fri. Will try to oblige if I get the chance.

The feeder is about 10yards away from the house so don't know how much detail I'll be able to get.

Why do you think we would be telling fibs ??

I am new to this forum, do you get many 'posters' pulling peoples legs.

[Margaret]

'My' goldfinches prefer Standard Sunflower Hearts, they fly right past the special feeder filled with Nyger seed both of which I bought especially for them at great personal expense - talk about gratitude:rolleyes: .

Margaret

[storye_book]

hi sahbster -

i look forward to seeing your picture. re the fibs - i don't think it's fibs, exactly - but you do get teens playing pranks on these forums. or sometimes they start by taking the mick by dissing cj's goods, and advertising other goods, then get out of their depth and contradict themselves. e.g. i expect that some pranksters think they are talking about goldfinches (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/goldfinch/index.asp), but they've probably actually seen greenfinches (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/greenfinch/index.asp) which also have yellow feathers on the side.

i'm glad to hear that you're not associated with these people, and i look forward to seeing your pix. if you have one or two goldfinches picking up the little broken bits of hulled sunflower seed, that would be quite possible - but what surprised me was a report of someone having nothing but goldfinches on sunflower hearts, in an area where the usual tit flocks and greenfinches would have hogged them.

cheers.

[storye_book]

hi margaret

are your goldfinches benefiting from other birds breaking them up too? this is getting interesting.

[Margaret]

Hi Storye_book,

No, as far as I can tell they are picking up 'fresh' seed straight from the feeder.

Margaret

[Jabber]

I get flocks of about 20-30 goldfinches at a time and I can say that they do eat sunflower hearts but they waste a lot of it so I use CJ's kibbled sunflower hearts which they gulp down at an alarming rate and leave very little waste. I used to feed them nyger but the amount of husks and waste put me off so it's just sunflowers for me.

[Rockin Robin]

they were definetly goldfinches i would bet all my money they were. I am a bird watcher and can tell birds just at a glance.

[Rockin Robin]

hi sahbster -

i look forward to seeing your picture. re the fibs - i don't think it's fibs, exactly - but you do get teens playing pranks on these forums. or sometimes they start by taking the mick by dissing cj's goods, and advertising other goods, then get out of their depth and contradict themselves. e.g. i expect that some pranksters think they are talking about goldfinches (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/goldfinch/index.asp), but they've probably actually seen greenfinches (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/greenfinch/index.asp) which also have yellow feathers on the side.

i'm glad to hear that you're not associated with these people, and i look forward to seeing your pix. if you have one or two goldfinches picking up the little broken bits of hulled sunflower seed, that would be quite possible - but what surprised me was a report of someone having nothing but goldfinches on sunflower hearts, in an area where the usual tit flocks and greenfinches would have hogged them.

cheers.

i think when you say advertising other goods you are reffering to me, i think that is a nasty thing to say, i get my bird food from many other suppliers, but so far cj's is the best for price and a small delivery charge as well as a speedy postage. I was only trying to give people suggestions about what birds like.

[storye_book]

hi margaret

thanks for the information. i'm puzzled about this - maybe they are taking the broken bits?

re your neglected niger feeder - don't know if this will help, but i heard a while ago that if you place a few teasels near a new niger feeder, it helps the goldfinches recognise it. apparently you have to sprinkle a little niger seed on the teasels, then that brings them in, and they get the taste for niger, which has its own smell, as you'll have noticed. anyway, i did this and it worked within about three days - goldfinches on a previously-neglected niger feeder.

it was quite difficult getting the teasels: our local petshops and flower/plant shops and nurseries couldn't help, but one of the shop staff directed me to a bit of wasteland, about to be built-on, which contained teasels. i took one or two (there were hundreds) so i don't feel too guilty, and i tied them on the feeder pole and the adjoining fence. anyway, it got a whole load of goldfinches fed, so that's something.

[Maisie]

I got 10 teasel plants last year from Wiggly Wigglers (sorry, sorry!!). They did lots of leafy stuff over the summer, so theoretically this should be their year to flower.

[Mobee]

Hi I have had goldfinches in my garden too, feeding on standard sunflower hearts directly from the feeder. I dont have them at the moment though, in fact I have had very few birds visiting for a while. We visited our daughter in Hants over Christmas and she had them (goldfinches) also taking sunflower hearts. They are quite distinctive birds. Incidentaly I'm a pensioner not a teenager but I do think that Rockin Robin is being rather provocative (fat for birds)

[Margaret]

Hi Storye Book,

Thanks for that, I know just where to pick up a couple of teasel heads, so as soon as the droves dry up my dog will be getting some really nice walks while I rummage in the ditches!

Margaret

[storye_book]

I do think that Rockin Robin is being rather provocative (fat for birds)

hi mobee

nothing wrong with wrigglers as far as i know - but i do think they could do with a better salesman:



“If your birds go through a lot of fat buy a big tub of fat off www.wigglywigglers.co.uk (http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/), (sorry CJ's) this is great value and is easily put in a dish on your bird table, mix dried mealworms with the fat which is easily scooped out with a spoon."
“it isn't soft it is hard to scoop [ . . . ] it is good and is as hard as the suet cakes of cj's.”
“i think scoopis the wrong really, it sort of comes off in chunks, i can assure you it is not soft at all"

[Rockin Robin]

Hi I have had goldfinches in my garden too, feeding on standard sunflower hearts directly from the feeder. I dont have them at the moment though, in fact I have had very few birds visiting for a while. We visited our daughter in Hants over Christmas and she had them (goldfinches) also taking sunflower hearts. They are quite distinctive birds. Incidentaly I'm a pensioner not a teenager but I do think that Rockin Robin is being rather provocative (fat for birds)

sorry if i seem that wayiwas just angry storye book thought i was lying about having goldfinches on my sunflower hearts feeder. Storye book is quite provocative not me

[Rockin Robin]

i will report you to cj's if you condemn me again like this, i am not repeat am not a wiggly wigglers salesman. If i was i would be saying stuff like 'wiggly wigglers are much better than cjs' which incidently they are not cjs is much more proffesional company. For instance i once emailed a sales assistant at wiggly wigs asking how long that tub of fat lasted, she replied 4 ages how professional......................

[dougied]

Hmmm, I had a similar problem to Margaret, in as much as I bought a feeder specifically for nyger seed, the goldfinches ignored it and just fed from my other feeders that contained CJ High Energy, no mess blend. Storey_book if they don't eat sunflower hearts what do you reckon is in that feed that attracts them so much? Particularly as the nyger seed was in the same area. I've actually stopped using it as it was going to waste.

[Sahbster]

Came across and interesting thread relating to this on the General Bird and Wildlife forum, go to page 5 the thread entitled Blackcaps.

[Bullfinch]

it took six months for goldfinches to visit my garden! Expecting them to eat nyger feed, instead they ate sunflower seeds. Now I have siskins on the niger feeder, and redpolls, which i read are not feeder birds.

I heard so much about the attraction that nyger seed has for birds, especially goldfinches, that I bought a feeder. I had it now for a long time and the goldfinches and other birds don't visit it, much preferring the sunflower hearts.

[Sahbster]

Well, I wasn't able to get close enough to get any pictures but I it was my birthday over the weekend ':D' and I am now the proud owner of a decent pair of binoculars.

It seems that the Goldfinches I have flocking to my sunflower hearts are breaking them up as they eat them, so half of the seed goes flying to the floor. So that solves that little problem. The bits that fall are hoovered up by the squirrels, collared doves, sparrows, chaffinch and robin.

[cyberhounds]

I've had a similar experience. A while ago the only birds I saw visiting my feeders were house sparrows and a couple of collared doves. I bought a small nyger feeder and some seeds in the hope of attracting some goldfinches and was pleasantly surprised when a couple turned up and started feeder on the nyjer seeds.

I also stopped putting mixed seed in my main seed feeder and started using sunflower hearts instead. Now we regularly get many other breeds of bird in the garden.

And now the goldfinches don't seem remotely interested in the nyjer seed and only eat the sunflower hearts!

I managed to get a quick snap of one feeding today.

Cheers,
Ben

http://www.benpage.co.uk/forumimages/bp0027423-01.jpg

[Gandalf]

Ben: Very nice capture of the 'goldie.' Had a look at your portfolio - excellent, you have some awesome images there. :D :D

[cyberhounds]

Thanks Gandalf :), much appreciated. It's been a while since I updated my portfolio, really must set aside some time to do so!

Cheers,
Ben

[Jenny]

Wonderful photo of goldfinch cyberhounds!

Confess to being so envious of you all with super cameras - I'm stuck with an ancient secondhand Canon early digital and Pentax SLRs! Latter still produce good quality shots but it's the phaff of developing and digitising them (and the reels of film one uses!) that the nuisance!

Back to goldfinches and nyjer seed - my goldfinches are scoffing the nyjer seed but also have a go at the mixed seed feeders and the peanuts - they've just started this latest effort and they aren't very efficient at it, presumably because their beaks aren't as tough as the greenfinches'.

[cyberhounds]

Thanks Jenny! :D

Yeah, the camera's great, but I was also sat in a freezing cold dome hide 8 feet from the feeders and perches for 4 hours to get the shot (was actually after greenfinches and our robin and got this almost by accident!). Sill, was worth it :)

Cheers,
Ben

[Jack]

Dear Storye Book, Rockin Robin et al,

..now, now girls - it's just a friendly forum for the mutual edification of all interested parties!!

Where was I? Right....

I have Goldfinches eating my Sunflower seeds too but, as you can see, they are hearts and not seeds with husks.

I have been meaning to post some pictures here to settle the 'are they Goldfinches or not?' question since there were only about ten posts (where does the time go?) but now I find I have some time I also find that Cyberhounds has beaten me to it! ;) Never mind, here they are anyway. :)

http://www.cjwildlifeforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=72&stc=1&d=1173204991

http://www.cjwildlifeforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=73&stc=1&d=1173204991

I have recently switched to Kibbled Sunflower Hearts (http://www.birdfood.co.uk/product_details.php?area_id=2&group_id=12&nav_id=25&prd_id=1013) from whole hearts for two (proposed) reasons; one, to reduce wastage (although I don't hear the Pigeons, Doves or Black Birds complaining!) and two, to try and entice the smaller birds, like Tits and Black Caps to hang around and eat rather than fly in, pinch one and then retire to a nearby tree to break up the heart.
I don't know if this is working, however.
The two feeders containing the Kibbled Hearts would normally have fallen by 1-2 inches in a day but now they don't move by a quarter of that amount. I guess this may be because there is less wastage - any thoughts?

Jack

[Jack]

Cyberhounds,

How did you get the whole photo of the Goldfinch to display in your post and not just the links and Thumbnails, like in my post?

Jenny,

I eventually gave up on the CJ Nyger seed feeder I have and now I put pure millet in it. It received a stiff ignoring for more than six months and the seed level fell at an inpercepable rate that could possibly have been purely due to the wind!
I kept checking the feeding holes to make sure that there was no dampness, mould, etc but I couldn't really identify why it was being ignored. I had all kinds of birds at the other feeders, including many, many Goldfinches, but rarely did I catch one on the Nyger.
The millet has been a great success and goes down at a rate to rival the Sun Flower Hearts but has had the unwanted effect of taking the sparrows away from my window feeder, which has subsequently stalled!

Thanks,

Jack

[Kerry L]

Since we put up our niger feeder, the siskins have been few and far between, and none have come near the feeder. The goldfinches that usually scoff the teasel seeds have totally deserted us. :( So far the only birds to eat the seed are goldfinches, although they much prefer the no mess food, and a male sparrow - who actually ate the most seeds at any one time. So we are rather miffed with this new feeder and the seed.
Regards Kerry

[cyberhounds]

How did you get the whole photo of the Goldfinch to display in your post and not just the links and Thumbnails, like in my post?


Hi Jack,

To get the images to show up inline without the links and thumbnails, I just clicked on the Insert Image button and pointed it at a place on the internet where the image is stored (in this case on my web site).

For example (I know this isn't a bird, sorry about that), if you right click on this image and click on properties, you'll see that it's address is on my web site:

http://www.benpage.co.uk/forumimages/BP0028250-01.jpg

Cheers,
Ben

[Jack]

Ahhhh!

I was using the CJ uploader, which I guess is the difference.
As I don't have a website yet, I guess I'll have to wait.

Thanks for that,

Jack

[cyberhounds]

No problem!

[Jenny]

Jack and all, I'm beginning to feel I'm the only one with a successful nyjer feeder. I filled it up (no wind today) 1.45 hours ago. It is now two-thirds full; there's a queue of birds around the adjacent bushes, several hopefuls on the ground and 8 birds squabbling on the feeder! Is this because I (can't afford) don't put feeders out with sunflower hearts?
Jenny:confused:

[Rockin Robin]

my niger feeder goes down fast even though i feed sunflower hearts, however it is mostly the siskins which eat it, i have decided to get a biger one.

[Kerry L]

Two goldfinches are now regular visitors on the niger feeder. Hooray! At long last the seed is going down quite quickly.:D
Regards, Kerry

[Kerry L]

The collared doves are eating the nyger seed! :confused: I couldn't believe it when I saw 2 of them perched either side of the drip tray and tucking in. I sneaked up to take a photo, and they flew off. Since then they have come back and I have managed to get a couple of pics and I will try and get them on here as soon as He man gives me a hand.
On a sore point, the goldfinches were happily tucking in when the dove flew up and chased them off!
Regards, Kerry

[Jack]

The collared doves are eating the nyger seed! :confused: I couldn't believe it when I saw 2 of them perched either side of the drip tray and tucking in.

Kerry,

I have had the same with my sunflower seeds. Attached is a couple of photos of my resident 'Wood Chicken' who, it would seem, is no longer contented with picking up the waste from the floor.

Jack

[Jenny]

Kerry, the collared doves in my garden do the same. I have partly resolved the situation by using just a narrow tray (it makes them feel less secure) and they don't hang about for long. Mine are obviously more cowardly than yours as they're scared off by the greenfinches and goldfinches! Blackbirds are also visitors to pick up the bits on the tray!!

[PiratesAhoy!]

See my other thread called "Collared finch" - collared doves are very adaptable, which probably explains how there were 2 introduced to this country in 1952, and now there's several million of the things :)

Jack - love the woody on the feeder - very graceful :D

[Gandalf]

I used to have spill trays under all my hanging feeders, but when the Collared Doves and Wood Pigeons started to use them as perches I removed all but the one under the Nyjer feeder. OK now, they hoover-up downstairs instead.

Cheers,

[Jenny]

That's the problem, Gandalf, the collared doves still perch on nyjer small seed tray. Put large seed tray under other seed feeders in hope of distracting them but they are very persistent - sorry, adaptable! I'm old enough to remember some of the first collared doves appearing in SE and it's quite scary how prolific they are!

[suzieQ]

i am wondering whether it was really goldfinches that you saw, because goldfinches certainly cannot eat black or striped sunflower seeds, as they cannot hull them (wrong type of beak). they would still have great difficulty with sunflower hearts, but they might just manage them if ground up. they can manage only tiny seeds, or bits of soaked softbill food.

here (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/goldfinch/index.asp) is a picture of a goldfinch, on the rspb website. it would be very interesting if you were able to confirm that you saw a goldfinch hulling sunflowers. if it was not a goldfinch that you saw, there are lots of other bird descriptions here (http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/index.asp) on the rspb website, and you can easily find the bird you're looking for - a greenfinch has yellow on it, and perhaps that's what you saw.

enjoy your birdwatching
HI,

My goldfinches take niger seed but if they can't get on that feeder they will happily eat sunflower seeds and hearts. Perhaps Staffordshire Goldfinches have bigger beaks!!!!

[Ben]

Just thought I would add to the discussion re sunflower hearts and goldfinches. I have been feeding them ( goldfinches and greenfinches) for eight years now, found they ignore nyger seed,

Ben.

[suzieQ]

Hi,

Yes it's strange about goldfinches and niger seed. A few will still eat it but the ones in my garden queue up for the sunflower hearts. Recently, I have seen sparrows eating the niger seed but only until they can get a place on the sunflower hearts. It's frustrating as I have bought the specialist feeder and a bag of niger seed but now have no "customers"!!!!:rolleyes:

[oldtwitcher]

Hi,

Yes it's strange about goldfinches and niger seed. A few will still eat it but the ones in my garden queue up for the sunflower hearts. Recently, I have seen sparrows eating the niger seed but only until they can get a place on the sunflower hearts. It's frustrating as I have bought the specialist feeder and a bag of niger seed but now have no "customers"!!!!:rolleyes:

Yes it is strange. Last year I bought quite a lot from the RSPB site at Pulborough Brooks in Sussex including a proper feeder for the Goldfinches.
They ignored it.
This year I tried Thistle seeds. This morning I was pleased to see Goldfinches and their fledgings tucking in. The House Sparrows and their young like it as well.
I've been keeping a lookout for Teasels while out and about. I did see some growing on a wild patch of ground but some blighter beat me to it!
from Old twitcher