Attracting Birds
How to Attract House and Purple Finches
House Finches are one of the quickest birds to recruit and one of the riskiest to crowd. A flock feeder is also a disease feeder, so the cleaning routine is part of the attracting plan, not an afterthought.
The short answer
- Sunflower hearts in a tube feeder is the fastest way to build a finch flock, usually within one to two weeks.
- House Finches are common in towns year-round. Purple Finches are woodland birds that show up irregularly in winter, and you cannot schedule them.
- Finches feed shoulder to shoulder and press their faces into feeder ports, which is exactly how house finch eye disease spreads.
- Watch every finch for swollen, crusty or weeping eyes. One sick bird means take the feeders down and clean everything.
- Two smaller feeders spaced well apart are safer and get more birds fed than one large one.
A tube of sunflower hearts hung in the open will normally have House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) on it within one to two weeks, and once a few arrive the rest of the local flock follows quickly. Finches are gregarious, they are not shy about feeders, and they are not fussy.
The Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus) is a different proposition. It is a bird of conifer and mixed woodland that moves south in unpredictable numbers, so you prepare for it rather than attract it.
Both come with the same caveat, and it is the reason this page devotes a section to hygiene: finch flocks are where house finch eye disease spreads. A busy finch feeder that never gets cleaned is doing measurable harm.
Which finch is which#
| Feature | House Finch | Purple Finch |
|---|---|---|
| Male color | Red on forehead, throat and upper breast only | Raspberry wash over head, back and breast |
| Male flanks | Clear brown streaking | Little or no streaking |
| Female head | Plain gray-brown, no pattern | Bold white eyebrow, dark jaw stripe |
| Bill | Stubby, curved upper edge | Stouter, straighter, more triangular |
| Tail | Shallow notch | Deeply notched |
| Habitat | Towns, suburbs, parking lots, year-round | Conifer and mixed woods, mostly a winter visitor |
The shortcut most people end up using is the female. A streaky brown finch with a plain face is a House Finch; a streaky brown finch with a strong facial pattern is a Purple Finch. In the interior West, Cassin's Finch adds a third similar bird with a peaked crown and a paler overall look.
Note that House Finches are native to the West and were introduced in the East in the 1940s when caged birds were released in the New York area. They spread across the continent from there, and Purple Finch numbers in the East declined as they did.
Getting the flock in#
House Finches are among the least demanding feeder birds in North America. The three levers that matter, in order:
- Sunflower hearts or black oil sunflower. Both work. Hearts are faster because small bills skip the shelling step.
- A feeder in the open. Unlike chickadees, finches do not need cover within a few feet. They will feed on an exposed feeder in the middle of a lawn, though a perch tree within about 20 feet (6 m) gives them somewhere to queue.
- Consistency. A feeder that runs empty for a week loses the flock to a neighbor, and they take a while to come back.
| Food | Feeder | House Finch | Purple Finch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunflower hearts | Tube | Excellent | Excellent |
| Black oil sunflower | Tube or hopper | Excellent | Excellent |
| Nyjer | Nyjer feeder | Good | Fair |
| Safflower | Tube or platform | Good | Fair |
| Millet | Ground or platform | Fair | Poor |
| Suet | Cage | Poor | Poor |
A standard tube feeder with six ports handles a flock of twenty birds working in rotation. A nyjer feeder is a useful second station that spreads the crowd out, which matters for reasons covered below.
Spread them out, do not scale up
The instinct when a feeder is mobbed is to buy a bigger one. Do the opposite: hang a second feeder at least 15 feet (4.5 m) away. Two moderate feeders reduce crowding at the ports, which is where disease passes from bird to bird.
Purple Finches: preparing rather than attracting#
Purple Finches breed across Canada, the Northeast and the northern Midwest, plus a Pacific coastal strip, and move south in winter in numbers that swing hard from year to year depending on the northern seed crop. Some winters they are all over feeders in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Other winters, nothing.
To improve your odds: keep sunflower out from October onward, site at least one feeder near the wooded edge of your property rather than in the middle of the yard, and keep conifers if you have them. Purple Finches often arrive with Pine Siskins and other northern finches, so a sudden influx of Pine Siskins is a signal to watch your sunflower feeder carefully.
They are also more retiring than House Finches. A Purple Finch that shares a feeder with thirty House Finches will often feed at the edges or wait its turn on a branch.
House finch eye disease: what to watch for#
This is the section that matters most, because finch flocks are the main route by which the disease spreads.
Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, caused by the bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum, appeared in House Finches in the eastern United States in the mid 1990s and spread across the continent, causing substantial declines in eastern House Finch populations. It also turns up in goldfinches and other finches, though less often.
What you see: eyes that are red, swollen, runny or crusted shut, frequently one side worse than the other. The bird sits still on the feeder for long periods, is slow to flush, and may let you approach closely. That tameness is not friendliness; it is a blind bird. Affected birds usually die of starvation, exposure or predation rather than the infection itself.
Why feeders matter: the bacterium passes through direct contact and through contaminated surfaces, and finches press their faces against feeder ports as they feed. A crowded tube feeder is close to an ideal transmission point. The full picture is in house finch eye disease.
One sick bird means act now
Take all seed feeders down for one to two weeks the day you see a finch with swollen or crusted eyes. Wash them, disinfect them, dry them, and clear the seed and hulls off the ground underneath. Dispersing the flock is the point, and it is the single most effective thing a feeder owner can do. See there is a sick bird at my feeder for how to handle the individual bird.
Do not try to catch and treat a sick wild finch. It is generally illegal without permits, the treatment is unreliable, and handling stress often kills the bird.
The routine that keeps a finch feeder safe#
Finch feeders need more attention than any other kind because of the crowding.
- Every two weeks minimum, and weekly in warm or wet weather: empty, scrub with hot soapy water and a brush, soak in a dilute bleach solution, rinse, and dry completely before refilling.
- Rake underneath. Hulls and droppings accumulate below a busy feeder and hold moisture.
- Rotate feeders. Two feeders let you take one down to dry properly instead of rehanging something damp.
- Watch the seed. Nyjer in particular dries out and clumps. Nobody eats stale nyjer.
The frequency argument and the reasoning behind it are in how often to clean bird feeders.
Check the birds, not just the feeder
Spend thirty seconds a week actually looking at the finches through binoculars rather than glancing at the feeder. Eye swelling is obvious once you look for it and invisible if you do not.
Managing numbers when the flock gets big#
Twenty House Finches is pleasant. Sixty is a seed bill and a hygiene problem.
Ways to bring it back to a sensible level without abandoning the birds: use straight safflower or striped sunflower rather than hearts, which slows consumption; switch to feeders with fewer ports; feed a fixed quantity each morning rather than keeping a large hopper permanently topped up; and stop offering millet-heavy mixes on the ground, which subsidize the whole neighborhood's flock.
Winter is the wrong time to cut back sharply, so make these changes in fall or spring, as discussed in winter bird feeding.
Your first month#
- Week 1. Hang one tube of sunflower hearts in the open, no cover requirement. Fill it halfway so the seed turns over fast.
- Week 2. Expect the first birds, usually two or three, then a flock. Note where they perch before landing.
- Week 3. Add a second feeder 15 feet (4.5 m) away, either sunflower or nyjer, to split the crowd.
- Week 4. Set your cleaning day and keep it. Also start the weekly habit of looking at eyes, which is the one piece of maintenance nobody thinks to do until it is too late.
Frequently asked questions#
What is the best seed to attract finches?
Sunflower hearts or chips. House and Purple Finches both take them immediately, and small bills do not have to work at a shell. Black oil sunflower is nearly as good and cheaper, and nyjer works well but suits goldfinches and siskins slightly better than house finches.
How can I tell a House Finch from a Purple Finch?
Look at the flanks and the female. A male House Finch has red mostly on the forehead, throat and upper breast, with brown streaking down the sides. A male Purple Finch looks washed in raspberry over the head, back and breast with clean, unstreaked flanks. Female House Finches have plain gray-brown faces, while female Purple Finches have a bold white eyebrow and a dark jaw stripe.
What does house finch eye disease look like?
Red, swollen, watery or crusted eyes, often one worse than the other, and a bird that sits hunched on the feeder instead of flying off. Badly affected birds go effectively blind and starve or are caught by predators. It is caused by a bacterium, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, and it does not infect people.
Should I take my feeders down if I see a sick finch?
Yes, for one to two weeks. Take everything down, scrub with hot soapy water, soak in a dilute bleach solution, rinse and dry fully before rehanging. Rake up the seed and hulls underneath as well. Taking feeders down disperses the flock, which breaks the transmission chain.
Why do I have dozens of finches at once?
House Finches are flock feeders outside the nesting season and will settle in for long sessions rather than grabbing a seed and leaving like a chickadee. A single feeder can host twenty birds in rotation. If yours is permanently crowded, add a second feeder several yards away rather than a larger one.
Do Purple Finches come to feeders every winter?
No, and that is normal. Purple Finches move south in variable numbers depending on the northern seed crop, so a yard may host them heavily one winter and not at all the next. Sunflower seed near woodland edge is your best chance, but there is no reliable way to produce them.