Wild Birds are HOGS

So we bought a larger bird feeder after I broke the one we had. (It tipped over when I was cleaning it out after the rain) I figured the larger feeder would help the seed last longer. But no, indeed that was not the case.

The birds, those sweet little sparrows and nuthaches and such are HOGS. They go to the feeder in flocks. Most of the birds sit on the ground, and the bird or two on the feeder SHOVEL the food with their beaks out of the feeder to the others.

We've watched the seed fling off of the feeder to 30 sparrows on the ground on a number of occasions. Then the pigeons come between the flocks of sparrows to gobble any remaining seed.

In our three weeks of 'birding' we've burned through 35 pounds of bird feed. I'm not kidding.

I really enjoy the birds, but this seems to have grown out of porportion. Has anyone got any ideas for how to manage this? I thought I was on deck for about 15 birds, but the flocking is really more than I had bargained for...