Hi--

Henry Noble and I have been attracting growing numbers of American
Goldfinches with a combination of a tube thistle feeder and another
feeder with shelled, broken sunflower seeds. They seem to like both about
equally. They've been coming around for the last few years. This year,
they started coming in small numbers a few months ago and are now up to
12-20 at a time. Should be getting a Cooper's hawk soon at this rate...
They stay through the summer with periodic absences.

We have found that there is a lot less waste on the ground with the
sunflower bits so we don't mind paying more at the Audubon store for
them. They are also enjoyed by the chickadees, house finches, Bewick's
wren, flickers -- and English sparrows. Even the bushtits are eating
them--though they like suet best. A great advantage is we don't get a
mound of smothering hulls underneath and there is little dropped seed to
attract rock pigeons. Sounds like our yard may be less wooded than
Dennis's.

Helen Gilbert
19th NE and NE 82nd St
Seattle