I finally saw some goldfinches feeding at the finch sock I hung out for them:



They're eating Nyger seeds from a net-like feeding tube made especially for finches. These photos are so small and not very detailed because I have to photograph at a distance, from indoors (through a window) with my puny camera, lol.

I buy my Nyger seed online at http://www.nyger.com/ because it's home grown in the U.S., and birds prefer this type of "live" seed. I highly recommend this company for your finch food needs!

Excellent!

We finally picked up some nyger seed at Gro-Moore farms for the finches that come around here. We have one regular goldfinch (though looking at how yellow yours is, I'd wager I may have a female around, too! I thought it was a male still in winter plumage), and a couple house finches.

We've got quite a collection at our feeder... red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, grackles (bullies), mourning doves, house sparrows, slate juncos, house finches, brown-headed cowbirds, chipping sparrows, a bunch of different woodpeckers at the suet (downy, hairy, red-bellied), and two newcomers this week that are awesome: a Northern Flicker, and about five White-Crowned Sparrows). There's also the male and female Mallards that visit the seed dish, the squirrels (two of them), and... a bunny! LOL! He usually comes around in the evening, after dark, but there was a VERY entertaining battle between him and a squirrel over the weekend!

Edit: I just read a little bit more about the white crowned sparrow in a book I have, and they're not even supposed to be here... the closet shaded area on the map is southern PA, in the winter only. They must be on their way to northern canada, where they're marked for summertime. Looks like they're quite common west of the Rockies, but NOT on the East coast at all! I may never see them again... wow!

I'm told the ruby-throated ones exist around here in the summer, but I have yet to ever see one.

The only one I have ever seen in person was when I visited my dad in San Diego.

Nutkitty- are those zebra finches?  We have zebra finches when I was little.  A male and female too.  They laid lots of eggs and had several babies!

You should replace the egss with those fake ones. That way they'll conitnue to sit on the egss thinking they'll hatch and you won't put so much stress on the female when she has to lay eggs over and over.

Awww...your finches are pretty!  I know they come in different colors.  I love the sweet way they sing.

I think we're supposed to have hummingbirds in this area, but I've never seen one here.  When I lived in San Francisco I put up a feeder and saw lots of beautiful hummingbirds right at my window!  The feeder had a suction cup on it so it stuck right to the window glass.

Yes, I'm pretty sure you can easily see a difference in the real vs. fake eggs. The fake ones are made of plastic.

Yeah, bluebirds are supposed to be on the rise again due to efforts with nesting boxes and such at parks since 1978, but they were almost wiped out by the European Starlings until the '70s. The House Sparrows aren't helping either...

The book I have has a little map of North America, color coded for each bird with Summer habitat (yellow), Winter habitat (blue) and Year Round habitat (green). For the Starling, almost ALL of North America is green. The only part that isn't is up at the Arctic Circle! Oy!

European Starlings were brought to NYC in 1890. Since then, they've taken over. Thanks a lot, Europe! LOL!

This is the book I have:

Field Guide to Birds - Eastern Region

If John and I were to ever get any birds, I think we would get finches... just because of the quiet little meep meep instead of the squawking. I can't stand loud birds. Ugh.

I like the Black-hooded Nun and the White-hooded Nun finches... they're nifty.

Today the finches were out in force!  Here's a photo of them just after a thunderstorm.  There are eleven of them at the two sock feeders:

I heard that a lot of conures end up in rescues for that very reason - being too loud.  Dave wanted one for a while...  I'm so glad we didn't get one.

As for the fake finch eggs...  I doubt I'd see them up close.  Maybe they could be marked so it'd be easier to tell.