Gold finches just like thistle seed. Some birds just eat insects and so like a pond. The sprinkler birdbath helps them clean their wings and drink. Keeping cats indoors also helps. Some like very tall trees, others like small trees.
Variety seems to be important.
Nest boxes also help. Urban settings are about the extreme end for desirable species, until the uran area is about 30-40 years old, neaning much vegetation matured, even then sparrows will prefer to live as urban people do. We have a bluebird house that the house sparrows tried to use last year. Every day I went out and cleaned out the nesting materials. After two weeks the house sparrows moved on.