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Goldfinches

Goldfinches

10 products

If there is one bird worth buying a specific food for, it is the goldfinch. Sunflower hearts are the answer — not striped sunflower seed, not a general mix with a few sunflower seeds in it, but hearts, husked and ready to eat. A goldfinch has a fine, pointed bill built for getting seed out of teasel and thistle heads, and hearts are close enough to that job that a feeder full of them can turn a garden with no goldfinches into one with a charm of six or eight.

They feed almost entirely from hanging feeders and will rarely come to the ground, so a tube feeder somewhere reasonably open and visible is the setup. Goldfinches are also notably slow to arrive — a fortnight or more before the first one finds a new feeder is normal — and then notably loyal once they have. Keep it topped up through that first quiet stretch rather than giving up on it.

A no-mess mix is worth considering alongside, since goldfinches will feed in company with other finches and a husk-free blend keeps the ground under a busy feeder clear.

Related ranges

The same feeders suit chaffinches and greenfinches. Browse sunflower hearts and bird feeders and accessories.

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