How do they do that?

hiya mike welcome to the forum

that's a good question upto a few months ago i was the same and now have around 8 all the time...i don't know how they found mine lol

alan

Have to put it down as one of life's great mysteries!

i should say that some birds must keep an eye on other species because when the goldies arrived the greenfinches wasn't far behind them and several people on here have had the same experience

alan

They do say that nyger seed has a distinct smell but I am not sure how efficient small birds are at smelling.  

Most garden birds have a very poor, almost non-existent sense of smell. Birds do travel from garden to garden in search of food and these goldfinches may have happened upon the seed that way.

Claire

Mike on the levels

After watching birds in my garden for 20 years I hadnt seen a Goldfinch until I put out some Niger seed this spring. How do Goldfinches who dont usually visit my garden know there is Niger seed when it is encased in a plastic tube?

Hi Mike,

The same thing happened to me and I wondered the same thing!

I read a book recently about the 'Secret Lives of Garden Birds' and it said that birds evaluate each other when they roost in the evenings by checking out which birds are looking well fed and healthy and if these birds don't tell them of the feeding site they're using, they'll follow them to check it out. They really are such ingenius creatures!

x

I wonder birds are used to the idea of 'birdfeeders'.... like, if they see a tube with perches on, are they thinking 'oh look, there's a birdfeeder where we can get some food!'  :)

Tern

I wonder birds are used to the idea of 'birdfeeders'.... like, if they see a tube with perches on, are they thinking 'oh look, there's a birdfeeder where we can get some food!'  :)

I think they probably do get used to seeing 'birdfeeders' and associating them with food. Nyger seed feeders often come in yellow specially to attract Goldfinches