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Re: House Finches and Hummingbird feeders.



>I have a friend whose Hummer feeders have been taken over by House Finches
>to the extent that he Hummers can't feed. Does anyone know if this happing
>before?
>                                                            Reece
>Reece 'n Judy Mitchell
>Flat Rock, NC
>rmitche2@tds.net

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REECE . . .

Many kinds of birds will come to hummingbird feeders, and House 
Finches are among the most common. When there are lots of House 
Finches, you can expect them to dominate feeders, and that's part of 
the game; i.e., when you put out sugar water, you can't really 
legislate what species will take advantage of your energy-rich food 
source. :-)

To sway the balance back in favor of hummers, may I suggest a few 
strategies that have worked for other folks:

--Use hummingbird feeders without perches or big bases

--Hang at least one feeder very close to a window so the House 
Finches can be spooked easily

--Put out a shallow pan of sugar water away from the feeders in the 
hope the House Finches will perch on the rim and sip

--Put up more hummingbird feeders

--Teach the neighborhood squirrels to chase the House Finches


Best wishes,

BILL



**********

BILL HILTON JR., "The Piedmont Naturalist"
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road
York, South Carolina 29745
USA

e-mail: <hilton@hiltonpond.org>

Voice: (803) 684-5852

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tax-deductible. Please visit our websites:

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"Never trust a person too lazy to get up for sunrise or too busy to 
watch the sunset."

						BHjr.

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