On Fri, 27 Sep 1996, Josh Hayes wrote:

> I'm seeking advice. We have a couple of feeders in our backyard; one
> is a platform-type feeder and the other is one of those little round
> ball feeders which are supposed to be squirrel-resistant.
>
> The problem is, although we have lots of chickadees in the yard, the
> feeders are monopolized by house finches (and a few - ugh - house
> sparrows, too). Even the round one, from which they are unable to feed
> effectively - a finch will simply stand on top of it and chase away
> any other bird that CAN feed from it.
>
> Anyone have any ideas of how to discourage the finches without
> discouraging the chickadees and nuthatches?


We have a lot of sparrows and finches at our feeder, too, but in our
locale the House finches are actually the desired result. :)

However, when we had a platform feeder, we had less finches visit because
the house sparrows would crowd them out. We recently switched feeders to
a tube style with a tiny platform on the bottom. The sparrows are content
to hang out on the ground and eat what the finches knock off, and the
finches are content to nibble from the perches along the side. They still
like to land on the top and scare people off, but the amount of
fighting has significantly decreased.

As for diet...when we had a high-thistle mix, we got (predictably) a lot
of finches. Recently, we've added more sunflowers and consequently have
gotten more sparrows (although the growth of the flock may be entirely
unrelated to our food type...:)

Just some observations near the topic. I hope they help! :)

-Pat