My neighbor in Dayton said my nyjer feeder was basically a bird trap, and she was right
I had my nyjer feeder hanging about 4 feet off the ground next to a window for almost a year, and my neighbor Ruth, who has been birding since the 80s, told me that height and spot were drawing house sparrows and giving hawks an easy ambush point. I moved it to 8 feet near a bush on the other side of the yard, and within 2 days I had goldfinches instead of sparrows. Has anyone else had a neighbor call out their feeder placement like that?
Ruth sounds like the kind of neighbor who peers over the fence and just KNOWS things, and the worst part is she's usually right. Four feet off the ground next to a window is basically a hawk drive-thru with a sparrow happy hour. My aunt in Akron had hers at five feet and wondered why the coopers hawk kept showing up for lunch. Two days to get goldfinches is a pretty good trade for swallowing your pride. Just wait till Ruth starts critiquing your seed blend too.