Birdfeeders

Thistle bird feeders really don’t hold thistle seed, but are used to offer nyjer. This is a tiny seed grown in Africa and sterilized before being shipped to the U.S. It is fairly expensive so it makes sense to only offer it from a bird feeder especially designed for this seed. Thistle bird feeders are usually designed in one of two styles in order to use the seed sparingly and not have it wasted by spillage. The first design looks like a regular tube bird feeder, but the ports are much smaller and often are designed for the birds to hang upside down to get to the seed. The other style is shaped like a regular tube feeder except the tube is made of a screening mesh so birds can hang on the screen and take seeds through the screen. Forget about thistle socks. Yes, they are cheap, but the rate of spillage is very high. Thistle only attracts a few birds such as finches, juncos, redpolls, pine siskins and indigo buntings, but these birds love this seed, especially finches! We have goldfinches at our thistle bird feeder all year long. During the colder months, there is constant use of this feeder, while during the summer when lots of natural food is available, the goldfinches only visit occasionally. House finches also love nyjer. If you find that a flock of house finches has taken over the feeder, try blocking some of the ports to discourage the flocks. We have house finches, but they seem to be sharing quite nicely with the goldfinches and we enjoy watching all of them either on the feeder or waiting on nearby branches for a turn. Any seed that falls to the ground gets cleaned up by juncos and pine siskins. One more big advantage of a thistle bird feeder is that squirrels don’t really care for nyjer! If squirrels are a problem for you, this is quite an advantage.