Feed the Birds, One "Weed" at a Time

Feed the Birds, One "Weed" at a Time was originally published in the BFEC Newsletter, Vol. 15/No. 1, Winter 2011. 

On grey winter afternoons, seeing a bird visit your backyard feeder can be uplifting. Something outside lives! And incredibly, survives the cold! We enjoy feeding the birds at the BFEC, and encourage you to take a winter outing to observe them here or purchase our birdseed to fill your own feeders. But without us (since we do occasionally go on vacation), what do the birds eat?

Most of our winter birds are seed eaters, which they find from many plants that are often considered weeds. Goldenrod is a good example. Brilliant yellow and humming with bees and butterflies in August, its seeds provide bird nutrition
in winter. (Look for tiny bird tracks in the snow around the plant, like those pictured here.)

Interestingly, many of the native plants that attract butterflies in the summer also offer winter bird food, including asters, coreopsis, black-eyed susan, iron weed, purple coneflower and joy pye weed. Add these plants to your garden from some year-around multi-tasking and lively wildlife watching.