Goldfinches Eating Seedheads Video

I absolutely love watching the birds in our garden! And because of that, you get to watch them, too… vicariously, at least. In the video below, you will see goldfinches and pine siskins nibbling on the seed heads in our flower beds.

We certainly wouldn’t such a wonderful variety of birds in our garden if it weren’t for some extra effort to make it attractive to them. In addition to planting trees and shrubs that provide them with shelter, and setting out feeders and birdbaths for them, I am careful to leave spent seed heads for them during the fall and winter months.

I know I harp on how important this is, but when you think of the tough winters we (and many of you) get, they are really tough on birds. When I do fall clean-up, I’m careful to leave the seed heads of perennials such as bee balm (Monarda), coneflower (Echinacea), and black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia). The seeds contained inside the seed heads are such an important source of nutrition for them.

So here is the video. I hope you will enjoy it and also remember to leave seed heads for the birds in your garden when you’re tidying it up next fall!