This blend attracts the finch family.
Gold finches, purple finches, pine siskins and redpolls will visit a feeder stocked with Finch Feast.
Can be selectively fed through finch feeders or standard tube feeders
Packaged in a consumer friendly clear poly bag, light enough for easy carrying.
Contains: 50% Nyjer seed & 50% Black Oil Sunflower chips
The American Goldfinch is a desired winter visitor to backyard bird feeders in North America. These small bright birds are 11-13 cm long with a wingspan of 22 cm and a body weight of 13-20 g. Both males and females exhibit the bright gold plumage during breeding season (spring/summer) while the males pale to a light yellow during the winter and the female are very pale grayish yellow. Wing tips are black on the male and brown on the female throughout the year.
These birds are common to weedy fields, young forests and orchards and gardens across North America. These birds migrate during the winter if food supply dwindles.
These birds are strict seedeaters with a preference for small seeds such as weed seeds, some tree seeds and fine sunflower kernel. These birds usually live in flocks and therefore prefer to feed in the company of others. They will feed from the ground, directly from hanging seed heads or from feeders specially designed for finch-like birds. Other, more aggressive birds will easily displace these docile birds, therefore it is critical to provide the appropriate feed/feeder combination to attract these finches to backyard feeders.
Reference: Middleton, Alex L. 1993. American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/080
doi:10.2173/bna.80
Photo Credit: © 2008 Nick Saunders. Photos may not be used without written permission from Nick Saunders. All Rights Reserved. www.saskbirder.com
The Pine Siskin is a small finch with a total length 11–14 cm, a wingspan of approximately 22.5 cm and a body mass of 12–18 g depending on season. These birds are characterized by streaky markings of black or dark brown on white. Males have light yellow on the edges of their wings while the females do not have any yellow markings. The bill is slender and the tail is conspicuously notched.
Generally an inhabitant of coniferous or mixed coniferous-deciduous forests, the Pine Siskin breeds as far north as central Alaska and northern Canada but also ranges south in suitable habitat to northern Baja California and through the Mexican highlands to Guatemala. Known to many observers as an unpredictable winter visitant, it is an irruptive species abundant in a given locality one year and often absent the next.
Like other finches, these birds are strict seedeaters with a preference for small seeds such as weed seeds, some tree seeds and fine sunflower kernel. They feed primarily in the canopy of relatively open conifer or coniferous-deciduous hardwood forests. However, they also use trees planted in rural or suburban areas and parks. At various times of year they will forage on lawns, in meadows, weedy fields, or grasslands and along roadsides. Readily uses backyard bird feeders specially designed for finch-like birds.
Reference: Dawson, William R. 1997. Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/280
doi:10.2173/bna.280
Photo Credit: © 2008 Nick Saunders. Photos may not be used without written permission from Nick Saunders. All Rights Reserved. www.saskbirder.com
The Purple Finch is a relatively large finch exhibiting distinctive differences between males and females. The male is raspberry red coloured while the female is a drab sparrow-like bird. These birds are 12-15 cm long with a wingspan of 15 cm and a body mass of 25 g.
Purple Finch is moderately common across the northern United States, southern and central Canada, and the west coast of North America. It primarily inhabits forest, ornamental plantations, and clearings associated with bogs during the breeding season. During the winter, it ranges throughout much of the eastern United States and southern Canada and migrates into lower-elevation areas in the west.
This finch feeds almost exclusively on buds and seeds and is frequently observed at bird feeders. Since it is larger than most finches they can consume larger seeds such as full sunflower kernels.
Reference: Wootton, J. Timothy. 1996. Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/208
Photo Credit: © 2008 Nick Saunders. Photos may not be used without written permission from Nick Saunders. All Rights Reserved. www.saskbirder.com
Both the Hoary Redpoll and the Common Redpoll are small finches measuring approximately 13 cm long with a wingspan of 22.5 cm and a body weight of 14 g. Although similar in appearance, the Common Redpoll is less bulky, has a longer bill and has numerous broad streaks on the breast, flanks and under the tail while the Hoary Redpoll is with under the tail and has fewer streaks. For both species the male has a red cap and some red on the chest while the female only has a red cap.
Both Redpolls are artic birds making northern United States, Canada and the arctic home. These birds will inhabit any terrain so long as there are sheltered hollows or brush nearby.
These birds feed on small seeds of various trees, shrubs, weeds, and grasses, along with other plant parts, supplemented with invertebrates in summer. They feed actively in trees, low shrubs, weeds and grasses displaying frequent acrobatics, hanging upside down to work on buds and catkins. In some cases they will also search the ground for fallen seeds. Redpolls will frequent bird feeders.
Reference: Knox, Alan G. and Peter E. Lowther. 2000. Hoary Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/544
doi:10.2173/bna.544
Photo Credit: © 2008 Nick Saunders. Photos may not be used without written permission from Nick Saunders. All Rights Reserved. www.saskbirder.com