Switched from a cheap tube feeder to a platform tray last fall and my finch numbers tripled overnight

I got so tired of the little guys fighting over those tiny ports that I finally broke down and built a simple tray feeder from some scrap wood I had lying around, and now the goldfinches and house finches practically line up on the railing waiting their turn, has anyone else made a similar swap and seen wild results?

3 comments

3 Comments

martinez.kim22d ago

Last spring I had maybe three finches at the old tube feeder all season, then I switched to a plastic tray I picked up at a garage sale for two bucks and now I'm refilling it every other day. It's like how I noticed the same thing happens with my bird bath - the little plastic one nobody used got replaced with a wide shallow dish and suddenly every bird in the neighborhood shows up for a splash. Seems like nature just works better when you take away the bottlenecks, whether it's feeding ports or tiny water dishes.

hannahsingh22d ago

Oh my friend had the same breakthrough with a cheap plastic tray last year!

emery_white19d ago

the wide shallow dish thing is real, switched my water source and got way more visitors too