Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Coneflower Birdfeeder


I always leave the dried seed-heads in my front flower garden as Winter food for the birds. A favorite of the birds is Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) seeds.



Here a Junco sits on the Coneflower head, searching for seed.





Mission accomplished. If you look carefully you can see the seed in the bird's mouth. (Click photo to enlarge) Even with the birds eating the seeds, plenty seem to fall to the ground to start new plants.



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God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

~J.G. Holland



19 comments:

Unknown said...

Very cool...obviously a different kind of junco than we get (ours are called Dark eyed juncos, I believe) Gorgeous photos of a beautiful bird, and a perfect demonstration why it's a very good reason not to clean the perennials heads at the end of the season.

Bramblemoon Farm said...

Great pics! I wondered if they liked the coneflower seeds. I always leave mine til spring when I clean up.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I hope the birds in my yard are eating from the seed heads I left them. I can't tell.

Great pics!

Catherine said...

Sweet picture! I love Juncos too.

Roses and Lilacs said...

I always leave my perennials up thru the winter. Those are great photos.
Marnie

Anonymous said...

Your junco are just a little different from ours, but we did have one that looked like that last year. We leave the seed tops for the birds, too. They are also really pretty against the snow.

Melissa said...

such pretty gentle images...

Anonymous said...

I feel bad, I ended up taking down my dried coneflowers. They were a mess, and I had some other fall things to plant, so down they came. I fully intended to leave them up so birds could feed on them. Next year, I promise.

Becky said...

We have slate gray Juncos, very formal gray with white tummies. Yours looks beautiful. I've never seen one before.Coneflowers are the best. I won't see finches here until spring.

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

Great photos! I try to leave seed heads for the birds in the winter also, I see them landing and eating but have never been able to get close enough to get a decent shot but I treated myself to a new camera for my 60th birtday so I have hopes now :)

Jan said...

I like your photos showing the birds eating the seeds from the flowers. I have white daisies (I don't have a clue what kind they are)...but I left them in the yard and the dried stems from all the flowers really give the yard some garden interest during these months. I am glad I left mine up. The birds eat berries from my holly bushes, and holly trees...lots to choose from:)

Kylee Baumle said...

I was just going to say what I see jodi has said, your juncos are different than ours. But still beautiful!

Great that you were able to catch one eating from the coneflowers! I haven't seen any birds eating from ours, but that's out in Max's Garden, which is quite some distance from the house. I'm sure they're eating from them, though.

Miranda Bell said...

These are lovely photos Connie - not a bird we get in France and a very fitting little verse to finish off with... have a good week Miranda

Susan said...

What an easy way to feed the birds and keep them coming around. Neat photos!

F Cameron said...

The reason not to deadhead the last blooms! :-)

Great photos!

Cameron

ChrisND said...

It's true that no matter how much gets eaten, there seems to be enough to reseed. I think we get a lot more rabbits eating the old flowers in winter than birds -- maybe if I can attract more birds in spring and summer they will visit in winter.

Kathi said...

You take the best pics Connie. I learn so much about flowers from your blog - I know veggies but the flowers just seem to happen. I cut all of mine down - it never occured to me that the bird would eat the seed. No more deadheading them at the end of the season from now on.

Marie-Monique said...

très beau blog!!! superbes photos ...j'adore àbientôt

Dirt Princess said...

I have to admit I am a bit jealous of the snow! We never get snow in South Alabama. If we do it is only flurries and very rarely sticks.

I hate to say it...but I don't leave my dead bloom heads on long enough to let the birds feast. I have been collecting all of the dead heads and saving the seeds to plant this year. I have saved every seed off of every plant I could....free seeds!