niger seed

[georgie]

I think now our most common garden visitor is the goldfinch (quite a change from a few years ago when I hardly ever saw them).

So, in an effort to please them and the others (sparrows, tits) I put out feeders containing a mix of niger seeds (for the goldfinches), and kibbled sunflower hearts (for the others).
However, the other birds just chuck out the niger seed and I got sick of removing sprouting seedlings from the garden. I also had a suspicion that the goldfinches were eating the sunflower seeds anyway, so I made a decision to ditch the niger seed and just put out the sunflower hearts.

Now my question is, by doing this am I depriving the goldfinches of any particular nutrients, and in fact, if I were a diligent provider, should I put out both types of seed?

I notice that the goldfinches visit as much as ever and seem to enjoy the kibbled sunflower seeds very much, although I appreciate that for them (as for humans - just witness those Gillian McKeith programmes!) what they like may not necessarily be what is best for them!

Cheers,

Georgie