I let candain thistle grow and bloom in some of my beds.And among the bushes and the edge of the lawn. Gold finches (I'm told nest at the same time the flower dies off and the seed balls form) I know I had hundreds this year around the property. Anyone else use wildflowers to attract birds?
Tom

Could those blue wildflowers be chicory?

Chicory it is !!! Thanks. The Goldfinches love it too.

I have never had Goldfinches here all winter long until this year. They did dissappear for about a month around Christmas but last week re-appeared at the upside down thistle feeder. Good thing I had been keeping it full for them. Its so cold and a really lousey winter here that I think they are happy to have the easy pickins from the feeder. Funny, they ignore the common tube thistle feeder I have had hanging there for years and only use the upside down one I bought late last summer!

Hurray!!! Goldfinches are starting to turn bright yellow. A sure sign that spring is just around the corner!!! Saw a very yellow one today and he just looked so spiffy on the feeder.

This has been my best year for Am GFinches. I had 25 to 30 in my yard last week. The owner of the Wild Bird Seed store said they are everywhere this year, so I can't take credit for it. One year I had a couple on my cone flowers after it went to seed. They would land on a seed pod and their weight would take it to the ground. They would let it go back up and do it again. A regular little circus act right in my back yard.

The goldfinches at my house love zinnias. They come in groups to sit and pull out all the petals and spit them in a neat pile at the base of the plant.
I threw some sunflower seeds frmo the bird feed into the flower bed a couple of years ago. One came up real nice and I wanted to keep the seed. I put a sandwich bag over it so the birds couldn't get it. I sat inside and looked out the window after I did it to see how the goldfinch would react. Didn't take long. A male hopped over and landed on a sunflower leaf. He couldn't figure it out. I tapped on the window at him. He looked at me and then looked at the bag then looked at me and then the bag. Then he leans over and bites off the opposite sunflower leaf, looks at me, and spit the leaf at me. I ran outside and chased him off after that. ;)

The few gold finches visiting my yard are still drab yellow. The gold finches do love sunflowers, but unfortunately in my yard the sunflower plants no longer get flowers, the critters - I think its the ground hogs - eat the plants long before they get a chance to bloom.

Richard

I already have this years future crop of Sunflowers started and some already planted, though they are very small. The Goldfinches, meanwhile, are here everyday on the upside down Thistle Feeder. I am also trying Grain Amaranth this year, I know it is supposed to attract birds but don't know which ones since this is my first year for them. The seeds are tiny so the Goldfinches and small seedeaters should like them.

I had often seen gold finches on the weed thistles growing by the roadside so when some thistles planted themseves in the middle of my yard I decide to let them grow in the hopes of attracting these pretty birds. They grew to a monsterous size (7 or 7 1/2 feet) and threatened to take over the yard. Despite the eye sore and constant protests by other family members treatening to yank those "pricker" bushes out of there, I held my ground. It turned out not to be such a good idea. The birds only visited these plants once or twice, and the seeds were blown from one end of the neighborhood to the other. I will be digging little pricker bushes out of my yard for the next couple of years.

The weed thistles are not a good idea. I planted globe thistle last spring and it has grown much since then. The flowers are soon ready to open so we will see if the Goldfinches like them.

Maureen - I have my thistle feeder hanging right above a big bunch of purple cone flowers also! The Goldfinches go from one to the other - they love the seeds from both!

I had all but given up on attracting gold finches until a sunflower my six year old daughter planted found itself being eaten by one. I put up a thistle seed feeder in hopes of attracting them permanently. The feeder received no action from any bird for an entire year. However, just as I was about to take it down, I noticed a little yellow finch perched on it.

Ever since, I've seen a goldfinch couple regularly come over and feed on thistle seed. They also seem to like echinacea seeds. Goldfinches and pine siskins have done a good job of depleting my thistle seed feeder and decimating old echinacea seedheads. I'm glad I didn't give up.

Sunflowers are great and so easy. I transplant the volunteers from my birdseed to different places in my yard and they grow and flower with no care at all except for a good watering when I transplant.

I have a huge meadow in the front of my property (a little more than an acre) which we have mowed once a year. I have noticed that the goldfinches love dandelion seeds and wild thistles. They seem to eat many of the flowers out there including the chicory.

The Goldfinches flegded babies around here and all day yesterday and today the parents have brought the young ones to the thistle feeder and the sunflowers and shown them how to eat. The little ones make a ruckus all day long with their high picthed begging and at first I didn't know what it was!!

Today even with all the wind there was a large flock of Goldfinches made up of females and/or juveniles feeding in the back area where I have annual sunflowers, mexican sunflowers and grain amaranth planted. While some were on the sunflowers and mexican sunflowers, most were feeding on the seedheads of the 'Golden Giant' grain amaranth. I planted the amaranth because it stated that it attracts birds but this was the first time I have seen birds feeding on it. The plants sure are striking though. Quite tall (about 7 feet) with those hugh plumes of golden seedheads.

There was another bird feeding with the Goldfinches. It was alittle bigger than a Goldfinch and colored like the dowdey female Goldfinches. Had a dark eye streak and small shoulder wing bards.

I am thinking all these goldfinches here everyday can't all be juveniles or females. So I guess the males have all changed into their dowdey Winter coloring. I like them anyway but it just was so quick. There were spiffy Goldfinch males here before last week. Passing thru maybe?? The Goldfinches are here all winter though.

Just lately the Goldfinches have really been into the fluffy seed heads of my Joe Pye Weeds. Its amazing how they can balance on the smallest stem and reach over for seeds.

It was lance-leaf coreopsis that was the big hit here, not sunflower. 2nd favorite was my zinnias. They looked so adorable, clambering on other tall things (like evening primrose) to reach the coreopsis. It was the first year we had coreopsis.

We're so lucky that our directly-next-door neighbor loves all the birds and our "mini-meadow." She says there never used to be goldfinches in the area.

Not many Goldfinches around this very cold Winter. Last Winter I had many all winter long at the Upside Down Thistle feeder. This year I only see one bird feeding there most of the time.

Hey, the Goldfinches are changing color now from the drab winter olive to the lovely golden yellow.

The Goldfinches have been here everyday all spring and now early summer eating from the upside down thistle feeder.

The goldfinch really enjoy a fine mesh bag feeder too ... Mine is sometimes so covered by goldfinches i can't see it .

I dumped the old thistle seed from my feeders and bought new seed and now I am getting gold finches returning to my feeders. I get the largest number of gold finches at my feeders in August and September.

Richard

Goldfinches still at the Thistle Feeder but they also hang out on the Annual Sunflowers, which are getting ripe enough for them to eat. Besides that, they are eating the seeds of the Grain Amaranth. The type I have are called 'Golden Giant'. Unfortunately, the Goldfinches are not the only birds that like to eat the Grain Amaranth seeds as the neardy House Sparrows also hang out there and eat on the seeds.

Yesterday and today the Goldfinches brought their fledglings to the feeder. The little ones would sit in the Cherry tree and chirp madly away while moma chowed down on the thistle feeder. Then she would fly up into the cherry tree and feed a baby. The whole process would then be repeated. I can't believe what a ruckus the fledglings make!

I can't believe how many goldfinches I've seen this year. Yesterday the entire feeder was filled (8 perches) and more in waiting in the dogwood branches above. Some more over at the agastache and coreopsis. On the south side of the house were more on my Sunflower 'Lemon Queen', coneflowers and rudbeckia. I actually had to get rid of an eyesore of rudbeckia hirta, and all of the seeds stuck to the leaves were amazing. I'm in for a reseeding nightmare next year...

newyorkrita, after seeing your post about the fledlings, I finally witnessed it as well. Yesterday, 5 finches made such a racket; that's was caught my attention. They're usually loud, but this was different. Daddy went to the thistle feeder while mommy sat up in the dogwood tree. The 3 babies chirped like crazy. I only figured out that they were the fledlings when they didn't go to the feeder. They mostly hung out on the branch above the feeder, then moved over to the hanging hook I have the feeder on. They never went to the feeder. After dad filled up, he flew up to the branch and fed the babies. It was sooooooo cute!!!

Returned from vacation yesterday and immediately disturbed an enormous flock of goldfinches that had taken over the prairie garden in our absence. Their favorite seems to be downy sunflower (H. mollis). Enormous numbers of them, wonderfully entertaining to watch.

I have only been feeding birds a few months, only getting sparrows and doves, but a customer at PetSmart told me about the Thistle socks. I said 'no way' are there finches in our neighborhood. Well, it only took a couple of days when the House Finches showed up, then all of a sudden I spotted a Lesser Goldfinch. Boy are they cute and their little mournful cry is so distinctive. And you're right about the babies, there was one I could hear that called "peep peep, scissors, scissors". I always knew when he was around. Just wanting to be fed while sitting right there. I think I still hear him across the street sometimes, just the scissors part!!! I think 7 or 8 is the most I have seen on our socks, but we have 4 socks up now and they are always eating there!! Flying pigs for sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1349051}}

How fun that this thread has gone on for over a year! I had an upside down tube feeder that the raccoons kept tearing open and finally replaced it with the thistle socks - the goldfinches just love it. Right now there are 5 on 1 sock. The flowers in the garden they like the best are purple coneflower and the single perennial sunflower. I always leave those up till Nov or whenever they finish cleaning the seeds out before cutting down the debris. I was just showing my 7 year old son this morning how the goldfinches have half eaten many of the dried seed heads. the full sized sunflowers are fun too as the birds hang upside down to get into the large nodding seed heads.

Since the thread started August 2002, it has actually gone on for 2 years now.

The past few days one of the many flocks of Goldfinches that come around here daily contains a recent fledgling. You can always tell by the noisey begging and wing fluttering while following around it's parents. There is only one baby, unlike the crowds of fledglings earlier in the summer, but I can't believe how late it is. Hope the little guy can make it thru the winter.

The Goldfinches haven't been around much lately. We still have snow on the ground from our last snow so you'd think they would be flocking to the feeder.

They are finicky - we get a bunch of them one day at our Thistle feeder and then they go away for a week or so and then return. Make certain your Thistle feeder is clean and the thistle is dry - they won't go near damp or clumpy thistle.

Also, you probably know this - but the gold finch is not bright yellow in the winter - they have their somewhat drab coat on. Have patience - they are there and they will enjoy your seed. I know ours do, as do our juncos, chickadees, titmice, bluejays, rock doves, wood peckers, and crows. We love our birds - the best decision we made three years ago was to start feeding them - it gives us tremendous pleasure.

Where is the best place to hang the sock feeder?

If not under cover, wouldn't it get wet and easily ruin the seed?

~Mary

We gave up on our sock feeder - squirrels kept eating through them and the rather expensive Nyger seed ended up on the ground where the finches won't touch it.

Better to invest a few dollars on a good tube feeder that is protected all around with grating and small holes for the finches to get at the seed. (Make certain the feeder is of good quality and there isn't a chance the bird can get stuck in the hole in anyway.).

You must clean the feeder regularly and don't leave the seed in for more than two weeks - you'll see it clumping and sticking together at the bottom. They won't touch it then.

It is truly worth the effort - Gold finches are simply beautiful! (This year I'm going to try and plant some sunflowers which I've learned via these forums are supposed to also attract them.)

Good luck.

My sock feeders are up year round along with a tube type nyjer feeder. I have to fill the three socks at least twice a week and go through a 25 lb bag of nyjer seed evry two months or so. The GFs stay with me year round and sometimes there are upwards of 20 or 30 at the feeders at a time. I use a squirrel baffle to keep the tree rats off of my feeders. The rain doesn't seem to bother my birds.

JohnCT,
You made me laugh calling your squirrels tree rats!
I have at least 100 goldfinches at my feeders here in North Georgia.Best of all, they are getting into their 'mating' colors and I have counted as many as 25 males on the feeders and the ground at one time!The air is filled with their chatter all day long.I go through a 25lb. sack of sunflower seeds in about 2 weeks filling 3 feeders. 2 tube feeders and one gazebo shaped feeder and the GF's seem to feed from both types equally.I am in hopes that they will stick around this summer. What a pleasure it is to watch these birds.

This has been a wonderful summer for having the goldfinches around here everyday. Besides eating from the feeder, I see them eating the sunflower seeds, Zinnia seeds and the Purple Coneflower seeds. The seeds from the coneflowers are not even ripe yet and still green but the Goldfinches are already dining on them dailey!

Right up high in a tree outside my art studio on the second floor of our house, I have hung a finch sock.

Goldfinches have rewarded me with visits all summer long.

i am in love!

Dont spend the money on sock bags! Buy a bag of seed and use a zippered lingerie bag from the dollar store! THEY LOVE IT! Same type of fabric I believe~
Heidi

Right now the Goldfinches are coming around to eat the seeds off the Purple Coneflowers all around the yard. They do seem to really love Purple coneflowers, plus the conflowers are also great for attracting butterflies.

Hi, I was wondering why I have had tons of house finches in my backyard but only ONE goldfinch???

Is the end of September too late to set up upside feeders for goldfinches? If/when I do, how long might it take to get results?

For years I had a tube feeder full of nyjer seed, but sparrows used it more than anything else. Only once in a while I would see a goldfinch eating from it. A month ago I replaced the tube feeder with a sock. There was an immediate increase in goldfinches, with up to a few of them on it several times the first week. After one week there was a big increase in goldfinches and it has not let up yet. There are almost always 1-4 goldfinches on the sock and several times, including today, there have been 8-12 fighting each other to get a space on the sock. They are such beatiful birds and it is great to see so many of them now.

I hang the sock from my tree about 6 feet from the ground and so far I've never seen any squirrels messing with it.

Hi, a newbie on this forum. I've been feeding the birds since we moved here in Central Arizona last year. Lots of birds, different kinds at different times. Last winter it was white capped sparrows and house finches. In the spring and summer it was cowbirds, doves and pigeons. In the fall we went traveling for a month without designating someone to feed the birds. When we go back only a few pigeons. The gold finches have been busy on the sock feeder all year but now we only see a few. When we feed the birds javalinas tear up the ground beneath the feeders trying to get the seeds. That's not so entertaining as it might sound.
Norm

Last week end we had close to a foot of sleet/freezing rain and this week end 5-10 inches of snow expected. More than that in gold finches have shown up! I see a dozen on my seed trays outside. The only time they quit is when a jay comes dive bombing in.I can hardly wait for the warmer weather to change their muddy yellow coats to that brilliant gold. Gotta go and make sure there is plenty of food for them. See ya.

Goldfinches love the zinnias I planted and the flowers are beautiful and easy to grow.

They like lyre leaf sage seeds too!