They are one of the most frequent visitors to my yard and I have them year round, although the numbers vary greatly. This past spring, I counted nearly 50 of them one morning before I lost count, and I was having to fill the feeders twice a day. They love the thistle seed, although at that time of year, they were eating everything in sight. Hint: they're not that brilliant color yellow in the late fall and winter. They lose that color to a kind of yellowish gray (just in case you didn't know that). They're a lot of fun to watch. You'll enjoy them.
Hi SweetLib,
I've had a birdfeeder in my back yard for twenty years now, and guaged the success by the bags of sunflower seeds -- 25 lb bags -- per month I go through. It has been as high as seven, but the other pet is an outdoor cat, who doesn't need as much food in the winter.
The feeder is an 8 foot by 1 foot trough that sits by the fence, and the clouds of birds it gathers in the two old Chinese elm trees are impressive.
What gave me cause for pause was watching the hawks visit the feeder; they would wait until a hundred or so sparrows had crowded in, then come through lengthwise very fast, snagging one. That wasn't so bad, but they sit in the yard below the feeder to finish off their prey, so I have called my contraption a hawk feeder.
Thinking of feeding finches is really something to put up next to my swinging bench, I've added an electric heater so it is warm to sit there when the air is cold, and the feeder would go where we had hanging ferns. I've moved them to the window wells and added grow-lux lights there.
If all this seems very complicated, it is just to have a bit of greenery and life during the winter months to break up the boredom of cabin fever, and since we don't get the wet heavy snows that last very long anymore, it is a reasonable diversion.
At the dentist a few days ago I saw his finch feeder, and it was well visited, so it seems a reasonable addition.
Thanks for your encouragement.