American and Lesser Goldfinches, and Nyjer Seed (thistle seed). And is it Nyjer or thistle?
If you have been following the livestream on our bird feeders for a few years, you know we have 2 feeders for Nyjer seed. They are the same style, but one is large and the other small. We have American Goldfinches in our yard and at our feeders all year round. We put the large one up in late February, filled it will Nyjer seed and ….. nothing. Cleon waited a week, dumped the feeder, put in new seed (from the same bag), but still nothing. Not one single finch. And here it is, end of April and ….. nothing. Both species of goldfinch* love Nyjer seed. We have American Goldfinches who should be all over this feeder. So, what is wrong?
We decided to stop by our favorite bird store which is about an hour drive from our house. Wild Birds Unlimited. Remember, my website is totally independent – just me. So, when I mention a place or a product it is because I have had success. I have no sponsors. No relationships. We have been shopping at this Wild Birds Unlimited store for years and have never been disappointed or gotten bad advice. Some of our feeders come from them as does the heated birdbath (birdy hot tub!) and the large cement bird bath. But we rarely buy seed from them. We buy all our seed here in our small town at a much larger business that also sells feed for livestock and seed to farmers. Good prices and we like to support our local businesses. Plus, the family that owns it is good friends with my cousins who are farmers.
The woman we talked to at Wild Birds Unlimited explained what she thinks has happened and I think she is right. Most seeds can be bought just about anywhere, and it is not a problem. The time they have spent in their bags on the store shelves is not too important. While you would not want to purchase a bag of sunflower seeds that is dusty and looks like it has been on the shelf since the beginning of time, most seed holds up fairly well. But Nyjer seed does not. It has a definite, short, shelf life. What she thought might be happening is that our normal place to buy seed does not specialize in bird seed but does carry it for customers. They order bags in large numbers and reorder as necessary. A place like Wild Birds Unlimited is only ordering bird seed, keeps a much smaller inventory on hand than a large seller of all seeds for agriculture plus livestock feed, and so is better able to track how fast the bags of Nyjer seed are selling. They actually track the shelf life. And they get a delivery of bird seed every week to restock their shelves.
She recommended we only buy smaller bags of Nyjer Seed and fill the feeders only about half full. This keeps the seed fresher. She also recommended a blend of Nyjer Seed and bits of shelled sunflower seeds which the goldfinches at this store’s feeder love. She convinced us. We bought a bag to try and are discarding the Nyjer seed we have – and that the goldfinches have not touched in weeks.
She also gave me a paper available to all Wild Birds Unlimited customers and put out by Wild Birds Unlimited. I am quoting from some of the information offered:
1. Both species of goldfinch are picky eaters, so it is important to keep the seed fresh and dry. Shake the feeder periodically to check for clumps.
2. Purchase only as much seed as can be used in a 6-8 week period and store in an air-tight container. Avoid storage in a warm garage in summer.
We were buying larger bags of Nyjer seed – having no idea how long they were on the store shelf – and storing them in our warm garage in summer. We have decided to continue buying most of our seed here in our small town. But we will buy all our Nyjer seed mixed with bits of sunflower seeds from Wild Birds Unlimited where we are guaranteed the seed is fresh. And we will buy smaller bags and store them in the kitchen – air conditioned.
This will be an experiment for us. And you will be able to watch the livestream to see what happens. Cleon will be dumping out the old Nyjer seed today and replacing it with the fresh Nyjer/sunflower mix we just bought yesterday. We were cautioned it could take the goldfinches a few weeks to discover the change. Hope not! But I would never want to predict behavior for any bird!
So, what exactly is this seed? Nyjer seed? Thistle seed? It is Nyjer seed. Many people – including us – still sometimes refer to it as ‘thistle seed’ but that is incorrect. Nyjer is not seed that grows into the thistle plants with which we are familiar. Nyjer seed is a small, high-oil seed plant Guizotia abyssinica. This plant is a member of the Daisy Family and it is native to Ethiopia and India. It is not related to the thistles we find in North America which can be pests and even invasive. These thistles are all from the plant genus Circium and are in the Sunflower Family. These Nyjer seeds were called ‘thistle seeds’ in North America by companies marketing bird seed. In North America, it is common knowledge amongst birders that all finches – especially goldfinches – eat thistle seeds right off the seed heads in meadows, prairies, and grasslands. ‘Nyjer’ was an unknown word to Americans with bird feeders. Marketing people made the decision to call Nyjer seed ‘thistle seed’ in order to sell more bags of seed – birders would automatically associate the seed with finches. Marketers – you have to admire their chutzpah! And it worked. I have stocked feeders with ‘thistle seed’ for years!
P.S. If you watch the weather, you know we here in central Illinois got walloped with storms on Monday (the 27th). Cleon and I spent the morning in our lower level with one foot in our basement’s storm shelter. We are Pennsylvanians – used to hurricanes, but tornadoes make us very jittery. And 2 years ago, we did have that terrible storm with straight line winds that uprooted 9 of our full-grown hickory and oak trees in our backyard. What a day that was! When both our cell phone warning alarms went off, our land line sounded an alarm, and the town tornado siren went off, we took that seriously and went straight to the storm shelter. Luckily, we had no damage here – all trees are still upright and the roof is still on. We did have a good hailstorm but luckily, no damage to perennials and shrubs. We were lucky. But that is the reason the livestream cameras were down. My good friend Justin runs our cameras – without him none of this is possible. He also works as a computer and tech guru so as you can imagine, he was swamped with outages during and after that line of storms tore through here. He was relieved the robin nest at his house – right under his security camera – was still in good shape with the eggs in good order. The Red-shouldered Hawk nest I shared with you in my 4/25 blog at our friend Janelle’s is still in place – and it is really high up in that fork. I was concerned. Our robins nesting under our eaves are all fine – babies are now sticking up their heads – mouths open. Moms brooding eggs or young are very important during such a late hail storm!
* All the finches in your neighborhood will come to your feeders for Nyjer Seed. Depending on where you live, besides both goldfinches, the more common finches are: House Finches, Purple Finches, Pine Siskins, and Common Redpolls.