3 Great Tips to Care for Winter Finches
Finches are entertaining to watch with vibrant, beautiful feathers. In the winter, however, goldfinches become a dull green or gray, making them more difficult to spot. With the right combination of wild bird food, water, and shelter, you’ll create an ideal environment to attract these small, feathered friends.
Reliable shelter
Not all small birds migrate South for the winter months. Some varieties, like winter finches, will stay in more temperate climates all through the winter season and are considered easy to attract if your yard meets their seasonal survival needs. That means providing reliable sources of food, water and shelter. They will likely migrate away from scarce food supplies and frozen habitats. If you live in a region where the water frequently freezes, you can invest in a Birdbath De-Icer. For nesting, winter finches enjoy coniferous trees and shrubs. Dead trees can be left intact, as they can use the hollows as shelter. Leaving birdhouses up through the winter will help too.
Feeding finches
Finches prefer smaller seeds like Nyjer and Sunflower Chips because they are high in oil and easier to eat. If you mix it with a larger seed or put it in a regular seed feeder, a lot of the smaller seed may fall out onto the ground and you’ll be wasting seed. We have a custom wild bird feed mix of Nyjer and Fine Sunflower Chips called Finch Frenzy that they will love! For finches, it is best to use a specifically designed finch or Nyjer feeder.
Finch feeders
These feeders have narrow slits to keep in the Nyjer seed, while still allowing the finches to use their small beaks to pluck out the seed. We offer a Spiral Nyjer Feeder that works perfectly.
We hope that these tips will keep you and your backyard finches happy! Check out our other wild bird mixes here. You can also check out a video from Bird Man Mel for more tips here.
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