Downy woodpecker hanging from a sunflower seedhead.
Downy woodpecker enjoying the buffet (click on any of the photos to enlarge).

Thanks to the great work of the bees, we’ve had a wealth of sunflower delights in our garden over the past month.

The plants, now about 12 feet high, have been hugely popular with our backyard birds, including the Downy woodpecker above, and an ongoing rapid parade of Chestnut-backed chickadees, like these two:

Chestnut-backed chickadee standing on the stem of a sunflower seedhead, getting ready to eat from it.
Chestnut-backed chickadee eating seeds from a sunflower

For the birds, the sunflowers have proved to be food for the body – and for us humans, they’ve been every bit as valuable, as food for the soul.

Close-up image of sunflowers, with dark blue background.
Macro image of sunflower head and petals.
Macro image of sunflower head and petals with another sunflower behind.
Close-up image of sunflower bloom with terracotta colour background.

Posted by on October 7, 2023 in Animals & Wildlife, Birds, Garden and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

3 Comments

About Laurie MacBride, Eye on Environment

Photographer focused on nature and nautical on the BC coast

3 responses »

  1. jkaybay says:
    November 1, 2023 at 3:55 pm

    So beautiful!
    Thank you for growing flowers to assist our precious birds and pollinators.
    Sadly, much of the sunflowers grown in the US are treated with neonics 😦

    Reply
  2. Fred Bailey says:
    October 7, 2023 at 8:57 pm

    Great shots as ever Laurie. Well done. Fred

    Reply

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