Tube feeder vs hopper feeder for winter finches

I ran both a tube feeder and a hopper feeder side by side all last January here in Vermont. The hopper feeder got emptied in two days by house sparrows and starlings, while the tube feeder with nyjer seed barely got touched for a week. Then I switched to straight black oil sunflower in the tube feeder and suddenly goldfinches and chickadees showed up within an hour. Same seed, different feeder design, totally different crowd. Has anyone else found that tube feeders keep the bully birds away better than hoppers?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_brown10d ago

Oh wow, that's exactly the kind of thing I've been noticing too. It's like the feeder design is sorting out who gets to eat, just like how doorways and hallways keep certain crowds out of a room. The bully birds want easy access and a big platform to land on, they don't want to hang upside down or pick out one seed at a time. Same with people honestly, how a narrow entrance keeps the loud groups from piling in. So yeah, tube feeders are basically the bouncers for your backyard birds.

ray_patel2710d ago

My neighbor switched to tube feeders last spring and the difference in bird traffic was night and day.