Expert: Roger Lederer - 6/12/2011

Question
I live in Minnesota. This spring there have been tons of finches around my house, but lately I am not seeing them. I recently had to have a large silver maple tree removed. There are still many other trees around. Could this be why I am not seeing them though? I have put many feeders up, but they are mostly being visited by sparrows. I have some separate feeders that sparrows cannot feed from, but still no finches. The neighbors used to feed them, but stopped for the summer. Could this be connected too? Is there a time when finches are more or less active/visible? Thank you.

Answer
There are a couple of explanations. If these were Purple Finches, they normally breed in Canada, so they simply went north. I suspect, though, you are talking about House Finches that are around all year. Yes, taking the maple tree down could have done it. Birds get used to the cover and the food the tree provides and now it's gone. Generally, birds don't visit feeders much during the summer because there is so much natural food around, but yes, your neighbors took away another food source and that might have affected the birds. But I strongly suspect it was the tree removal.
Finches tend to be more visible in the winter as they are foraging for food and are more likely to visit feeders than they are in the summer.