Creating a habitat for goldfinches.

Hi folks! I wanna find more plants that draw goldfinches besides thistles, sunflowers, asters and cup plants which I got in my backyard and at my community farm. I wanna find out which type of shrubs that draw more goldfinches for food, cover and possibly nesting besides wild roses. Goldfinches are among the most common of all spring and birds year round in all north areas of the country especially in the Midwest. Could goldfinches collect blown seeds of milkweed, thistle and stuff for late nesting? And are there more native thistles out there beside pasture that would help draw more native American goldfinches? Somebody please educate me on the life cycle of goldfinches out in the wild so I can better understand how they behave and adopt in terms of survival. Please drop me off some ideas and stuff to help me draw more goldfinches for breeding and things of that nature. Blessings always!

Here is a link to a site which discusses the Gold Finch
https://animals.net/goldfinch/

Interesting Facts About the Goldfinch
These are brightly-colored birds that certainly draw attention at backyard birdfeeders. Learn more about what makes these birds so interesting below.
Cold Avoidance – Like many other songbirds, Goldfinches fly south for the winter. However, these birds do not fly to a specific destination. Instead, they base their destination on the temperatures. These birds only fly as far as they need to be in non-negative temperatures.
Brighten Up – These finches change color based on the season. During the breeding season, their plumage is bright yellow and quite flashy. As the breeding season passes, their plumage changes to a light brown color. Because of this, these little birds molt their feathers twice per year.
True Herbivores – This species of finch has one of the most strictly vegetarian diets of any bird. While most birds feed on insects during the breeding season, Goldfinches feed their chicks the same seeds that they eat year-round.
Cow’s-Bane – Like many birds, these suffer from brood parasites, most commonly cowbirds.
Brood parasites are birds that lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, and let the other pair do the work raising their young.
However, cowbirds meet their match with these would-be adoptive parents. Though the Goldfinches do not notice the brood parasite, cowbird chicks cannot survive on a diet of only seeds.
Habitat of the Goldfinch
This species lives in several different types of habitats, usually in tropical or temperate regions.
Some of their favorite ecosystems include grasslands, meadows, forest edges, floodplains, savanna, scrub forest, and more.
They prefer areas with a variety of shrubs, flowers, and other seed-producing plants.
These little birds are also quite amenable to human interaction, and often live in urban areas.
They thrive in parks, gardens, backyards, pastures, farms, and other manmade areas.

Distribution of the Goldfinch
American Goldfinches live across much of North America. The northernmost populations migrate south during the winter.
In other regions they are year-round residents.
Migratory populations spend their spring and summer throughout southern Canada and the Midwest United States.
Year-round residents live throughout the northern and central United States. Winter populations live throughout the rest of the southern United States into Mexico.
Diet of the Goldfinch
These finches are strict herbivores, and eat only plants. Specifically, they are granivorous, and eat only seeds and grains.
Their diet consists of weeds, seeds, nuts, pinecones, and other similar grains.
One of their favorite places to forage is backyards, where they utilize birdfeeders and eat their fill of seeds.
Their foraging behavior occurs both in shrubs and plants, and along the ground.
Some of their favorite types of seeds are sunflowers, asters, nyjer, thistle, and more.

Besides the flowers that you mentioned, plant more yellow and orange flowers like sunflowers and Mexican sunflowers:

Here is a goldfinch with the Mexican sunflowers:


source

Why not plant a birdseed food plot?

I'm surprised no ones mentioned echinacea and other coneflowers but they are also good seed sources.

And like other birds they need good nesting sites during breeding season, and that's about to start in most of the country. They're looking for bushes rather than large trees. According to this article https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attract-goldfinches-backyard/
Somewhere between 3 and ten feet.  They also list a lot of examples that provide food and shelter.

I got purple coneflowers and cup plants to reel in more goldfinches every late summer and fall. I wanna find out which shrubs or trees provide food, shelter and nesting for goldfinches?

DW just observed a male and female goldfinch stepping on volunteer dill and picking off the aphids. I have seen them do the same with fully puffed dandelions, eating the seeds. They are multi-talented little dudes.

Cool to see goldfinches visiting the dill and dandilions. Which part of Canada you're from? You got a wildlife garden to draw goldfinches?

Well, both properties I have owned were hardly golf courses, even though there was/is some lawn (full of clover) for aesthetic appeal (a.k.a., icing), fire control, and the feeding of bumblebees.

And yes, there have always been stands of bush/trees where I assume they nest. Successfully, since we see them feeding and teaching their young.

We have always maintained feeders and sunflowers. Both are black oil sunflower, the ubiquitous commercial variety that produces a dozen heads and blooms forever. We call them sunflower trees. Since all birds toss out the small ones, from both feeders and blooms, this is a fairly self-perpetuating system. Both goldfinches and chickadees check the heads regularly to see if they are ripe.

Note that at certain season, goldfinches ignore our expensive dry sunflower seed and chow down on various other seeds in the wild margins of our gardens.

This year, we have had an "aggression" of squirrels. Or is that a "nuisance?" Or a "perturbation?" Regardless, birds have been stealthy or steering clear of our yard proper. And not only by being harassed, but by squirrels destroying young in their nests. We are not amused. Wise squirrels will take note: there's a new sheriff in town.

I am starting to think of an excess of rampaging squirrel as a variety of land fish, to be harvested and planted under a new tree. It has happened before.

You tried thistle seeds to feed goldfinches? And you looked into a nest box with a pole that has something to prevent rodents and other pesky critters from reaching up to the nesting area? I never used thistle seeds to feed birds before. I had my troubles with squrriels and sometimes monk parakeets and other non native birds. If you're feeding birds next time, try a goldfinch feeder that's squrriel proof. I gotta do the same with my birds, keeping my feeders away from critters.

I have never found a goldfinch nest, to my knowledge. They are pretty stealthy. I have raised nests for other bird, but goldfinches have never taken any notice.

The whole point is that my squirrels (reds) are incredibly aggressive when their numbers reach a certain point. A "bloodthirsty mob" of squirrels -- that's the correct expression.

You ever tried to find ways to stop squirrels from ramsacking your feeders and the birds themselves? How did that happen to you? Were you successful in drawing more birds in the past before that disaster really happened?

I notice they went crazy for a patch of cosmos that were seeding out in my garden.

Hello folks! Long time no see on this board! I wanna find out if there are any plants to draw goldfinches this spring. Could we feed goldfinches some worms or stuff like that since it's getting too warm for feeder seeds? Good seeing ya!

Nyjer Seed is a sure fire way around here to attract gold finches. I think it comes from Guizotia abyssinica, but I don't know anything about the plant really.

What's happening stranger! I wanna find out if we can grow our own nyger seed in our backyards to produce each year. I bet thistles are a strong substitute for nyger in case if it's absent from most stores near us. I have a prairie type garden both in my backyard and at my community farm, do prairie type habitats provide nesting and shelter for goldfinch families to provide autonomy for them in the long term? And do the prairie plants provide nesting material to keep them sustained for time to come?

I saw a bunch of chickadees collecting fluffs from the dead goldenrod seedheads the other day. I guess leaving the area wild would help birds with nest materials.

Could they use old stuff from milkweeds, dogbane and some native grasses to create strong nesting material to last from dreadful rain and wind? Which plant material shelter young birds more from weather conditions and predators in man created habitats? Do mothers mark some areas of our prairie habitat as territory to safeguard their young and themselves?

We always have goldfinches around our acreage.  We do have nyger and black sunflower seed at feeders and they come to both.  We also tend to have far too much thistle going to seed for my liking.  In the past few years, I've also broadcast out black oil sunflower seed for birds to be able to feed more naturally (and helps some of them get through the winter).

I can't speak specifically to where they nest, although there must be some nesting on our property.  We have a few mature(ish) trees near the house, but I suspect they would prefer the cotoneaster shrubs and possibly false astilbe patch.  Small birds tend to prefer more shrubby spots for nesting.  Merlin doesn't give any nesting details.  American Goldfinch at Cornell Lab doesn't give much detail either, other than noting they don't like thick woods.

What grows well in your area that would be native that would make sense as food and / or nesting sources?  In our part of the world, I could see chokecherry or pincherry thickets as well as Saskatoon berry thickets.  Some birds will also nest in tall herbaceous plants, so our native tall grass prairie plants may offer sufficient nesting habitat.  

Good luck getting it all figured out.

We regularly have a pair of Goldfinches arrive in the spring. I haven't seen any babies, so I really don't know where they are nesting, but one thing they like is that I pin up dog fur around my gardens to discourage the deer. They *love* to steal the fur to insulate their nests. They aren't the only birds I see doing so - chickadees and hummingbirds do so also, so that's one more way people can create an attractive habitat.

Greetings! How have you all been? Missed you on this board. Looking forward to seeing more goldfinches visiting my cup plants this year.

As mentioned, a big attraction for my goldfinches this year appears to be a row of sunflowers of different variety. They make use of bushy plants to seek refuge in and dart in and out of on my homestead. They particularly are drawn to a forsythia hedge which is similarly roosting different chickadees and the likes.

Not only do they love the sunflowers, they have a good time tearing the petals off of my zinnias. They also enjoy the echinacea seeds. Sunflowers definitely are the most attractive of all in my backyard. Out in the parks in our area, they are crazy for Prairie Dock seeds. I have been trying to grow Prairie Dock in my meadow. The deer love them. I protected with netting and got one flower stalk last year. This year they are protected and did not flower. Fingers crossed for next year. Not only do I like the flowers very much, I hope to see the goldfinches go crazy on them like they do at the park.

Great for you! Hopefully I can produce more compass plants next year at my community farm's wildflower garden.

Spring seeds, I use Bachelor's Buttons.  I prefer the blue personally, but the come in a rainbow of blues, pinks, and rose color in a multi-color mix.
They eat the seeds so well that there are never any left to fall to the ground and sprout.  Likewise with my summer flower, Cosmos, they ride, bobbing on the dried flower heads feasting on the seeds.
i also feed nyjer thistle, but the finches do decimate green bean and sunflower leaves by eating the green between the viens on the leaves, no it's not a bug: it's the finches.  However, someone said it is a lack of water.  I am trying a bird bath of water to see if it helps.

Besides echinacea, I am always delighted to watch them light on and pick at the seed heads of my mint plants.  Catmint, specifically, appears to have sufficiently strong stems for their landing and big, bushy seed heads - the bees LOVE the blossoms first, and then the finches take over when the seeds set!  And of course, the plants deter some pests and then make great tea for humans, too - win, win, win, win.