Out with House Sparrows, in with American Goldfinches

We have stopped the madness, and the backyard is much better now. We have cut way back on House Sparrows, and we’re touting the American Goldfinch as the bird to feed for Racine’s elite, birdfeeding smart set.

Amy and I started feeding wild birds years ago, back in our second-floor Kenosha apartment. We bought a couple of basic hanging plastic feeders and filled them with something like Kaytee Wild Bird Food — the standard, all-purpose mix of millet, milo, sunflower, cracked corn, and wheat. This attracted several species, but overall the vast majority of our customers were common House Sparrows. At times, there would be flocks of a hundred or so sparrows flying back and forth between our windows and the trees. They would squawk and fight and empty both feeders each day.

Like the old ladies always say when the authorities come to clear the 300 cats out of their houses, it just gradually got out of hand.

Along the way, we expanded into black oil sunflower seed for the Northern Cardinals, and Nyjer (thistle) seed for the goldfinches and House Finches.

When we bought our house in Racine, things were quieter at first, and we saw many more species, but eventually the same sizable House Sparrow flocks started to assemble again, along with the occasional Mallards, lots and lots of Eastern Gray Squirrels and Cottontail Rabbits, plus a Cooper’s Hawk or two on a regular basis. The ducks and squirrels and rabbits were after the sparrows’ wasted seed, and the hawks were after the weaker sparrows. Our yard had become a regular Wild Kingdom.

After reading a recent news story about an Illinois couple ordered to remove their bird feeders, I decided it might be a good idea for me to do the same thing, so I took down the millet feeders in the backyard where most of the chaos was centered.

Serenity was restored almost immediately.

Not only did the noisy sparrows disappear after a day or so, but the more desirable birds now can now eat and sing and bathe in peace. We still offer fresh water in our bird bath, and black oil sunflower seed in our squirrel-proof feeder, and the cardinals and Black-capped Chickadees still stop by.

Last fall, Amy found a Finch Screen Feeder by Stokes at Farm & Fleet to replace the plastic one that squirrels had chewed up. It worked great — the squirrels gave up, and the finches loved it — so we bought a second one to cut down on competition, and now both feeders are regularly used by bright yellow, squeaking, looping American Goldfinches, probably our most favorite backyard bird. Okay, the Nyjer (thistle) seed they eat can be kind of pricey, but we try to buy it in bulk, and I’m only filling the feeders about every two weeks or so now, as opposed to every day with the sparrows.

Do you think you, too, might enjoy a bunch of little canary-yellow birds loop-de-looping around your yard and squeaking like squeeze toys? Well, put away that millet, get a screen feeder and a bag of Nyjer, and attract yourself some proud American Goldfinches.

You’ll be glad you did.