Customer Reviews

Birdscapes 736 Upside Down Goldfinch Feeder

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Although I was surprised to see that birds, other than finches, can stand on the bottom platform and feed, this bird feeder still has several other ports where only the yellow finch can feed. The snowbirds seemed to be the ones standing and getting the food on the bottom, so I didn't mind it at all, since they are welcome winter visitors. The bottom holes were made bigger,though, by some non finch birds who pecked at it, and I had to put a bit of duct tape over the bottom holes. BUT! This bird feeder is the most handsome finch feeder out there. In addition, it has a canopy to keep out really wet weather, which can be a problem with small niger seeds. Most niger feeders do not have this canopy, and when the seeds get wet, they clump together and get moldy. All in all, I enjoy looking out at my yard and seeing this feeder filled with finches!

Remove the three Philips-head screws beneath the bottom platform that hold the bottom platform to the tube and then the (Colibri) feeder looks like its picture, and larger birds that could perch on it can no longer feed from it. With the bottom platform removed, the only birds I noticed on the feeder today were goldfinches, and they ate from it voraciously throughout the day. There may be other small birds that will come to it and manage to feed from it, but the goldfinches I had rarely spotted before on the feeder were abundant today.

This is a very attractive feeder and if only goldfinches could use it I'd be be very happy with the item. Unfortunately, house finches (who have their own feeder) seem to prefer the thistle seed and are quite capable of standing on a perch and stretching up to the the feeder hole above it. Each finch that does this essentially takes away TWO feeding stations from the goldfinches - the hole above the perch and the one below - so two house finches take up four stations, leaving only two available for the smaller and more timid goldfinches. And yes, there is a small platform under the feeder, just big enough for an ambitious house finch to brace against while it holds on to the metal frame above. This feeder empties out in just one day ....... and the goldfinches get very little of it.

The picture for this product did not show the platform bottom that the larger birds are able to stand on and feed. It makes the feeder not practical for the purpose advertised. I will probably discard this product.

It was fun watching the goldfinches feed upside down.
They however prefer to eat upright and would pass up this feeder for the normal feeder most of the time.
But then after a rain...the seed got wet and spoiled immediately. Cleaning it and putting in more seed became a regular occurence.
So I got rid of the feeder.

Yes, the Gold Finch's can hang upside down to feed but the vertical separation of the feed holes are to close together and this allows other birds to sit on a perch and reach the feed hole above it.

I will soon be looking for a different upside down feeder as this one allows any small bird to sit on it and feed.

Product is very good. Could be longer for more capacity. During recent snow storm, each feeding station was constantly in use. Anyone looking for a finch feeder should look at this product as there is very little waste and other birds do not feed on the thistle seed.

I was pretty excited to find a 3 lb upside down finch feeder. I have a ton of yellow finches in my back yard and decided to upgrade from the cheapo upside down tube finch feeders to this one.

The disc at the bottom of this feeder is pretty useless. It seems to be more of a bird poop collector. It also helps stabilize the feeder when filling it up.

Every time I glanced out the window I found the cheapo upside down tube feeder loaded with finches. I looked at my new feeder and found it was totally empty.

A few finches tried the new feeder only to give up and go to the older feeder. I compared the two feeders and found that the pegs to the new feeder were considerably thinner.

I am going to try adding some tubing to the pegs to thicken them up a little. Either way; save your money on this feeder. It may look sharp; but that's about it.

Goldfinches love this attractive feeder. I wanted to replace the flimsier, flexible, yellow-capped $10-$13 upside-down feeders that break too easily, spill seed if you hold the feeder too tightly after refilling, and let in rain through the seed holes. As some reviewers have said, the drawback to the new feeder is that other birds can get to the thistle by reaching up to a hole; it's hard to believe that the feeder designer didn't anticipate this. Didn't anyone test the feeder before production? Simply adding half an inch or so between perch levels would have solved the problem.
On the plus side, the roof helps keep the seed dry, and the base, which would have been more useful if larger and concave (it is small and flat), catches some of the spilled seed, and the goldfinches eat it there. I didn't remove the base, as other reviewers have done, because this feeder's only pests -- house finches and sparrows -- can still sit on a perch and reach a hole above, so I left the base on to catch some seed.
The good news is that house finches and sparrows prefer black-oil sunflower to thistle. As long as my sunflower feeders are not close to this feeder (mine are about 15 feet away) and have ample seed in them, the house finches and sparrows invariably go for the sunflower and ignore the thistle feeder, where they have to work a little harder anyway to reach up and take seed. And the goldfinches DO catch on to the upside-down thing right away; they often eat upside-down on garden plants, so they have no problem with an upside-down feeder.

There needs to be more space vertically between the stations, as the pesky house finches can easily stretch and reach the port above a perch. I was very surprised to see this, as I have had other upside down finch feeders that did not present this problem. A total waste of money.