I was skeptical when I bought this thistle feeder back in November. My first concern was that the goldfinches wouldn’t want to cling onto the screen to feed, but they quickly proved me wrong.
Goldfinches are very picky about their Nyjer (thistle) seed. It has to be fresh or they’ll completely ignore your feeder. November and December were pretty mild and dry around here so I had to wait awhile to see if the finches would still be interested in the seed once it sat out in a snowstorm or two. At least in a plastic thistle feeder the seed has some protection from the elements.
We’ve had plenty of snow and cold over the last week and much to my surprise, the feeder became even MORE popular!
It takes much longer for the birds to empty this style of feeder compared to a regular tube thistle feeder, so I’m happy this feeder is working out because I have 30-40 goldfinches regularly visiting my yard.