Birds and Humans Harvest Side by Side

A sweet little finch takes a quick break on brittle branches that bore 
  brilliant sunflowers for months. Now they're adorned by birds. 

Harvest time is the best of the gardening seasons. Obvious, of course? Why would anyone do all work that must be done if it wasn't?

You know. Plan, till, plant, seed, weed, water, fertilize, trim, fence, compost, mulch, prune, transplant, and control pests and diseases. And worry, just a little bit, about late or early frosts, strong winds, aphids,  and in drier areas, water shortage. And oh yeah, giant squash bugs. 

Harvesting doesn't happen all at once, thank you, but mid-September/October are full-on times to bring in the late and lingering crops. 

Gardeners are overjoyed (overwhelmed?) by the great bounty spilling into the rows and hanging heavy on their supports, even as plants become ever more vulnerable to the inevitable frost.

Gotta get it all in while you can before you find yourself slouching to grocery stores for overpriced organic produce as your frost-bitten tomatoes drip and shrivel. 

Fall is also a high-tilt harvest time for birds, who are riotously stocking up for winter. In our garden, sunflower seeds are in hot demand. As I'm hunting down hidden tomatoes, still-burgeoning zucchini, and bountiful basil, birds are noisily searching for sunflower seeds just a few feet away. 

Those gorgeous bright yellow blooms on towering stalks have turned brown and crispy,  offering an abundance of seeds to birds for winter sustenance. Most sources that fall to the ground are devoured, but not all. The better part of our sunflowers self-seed. We thank them very much.

Early mornings are the most thrilling time to visit the garden. Yes. Thrilling. Especially in fall when the sunflowers "belong" to the birds, and the rising sun paints the garden gold, if only for a few moments.  

A black-capped chickadee feeds on a sunflower seed head.

A red-wing blackbird warns others to stay away from his sunflower cluster. This photo shows the seeds picked over.

Redwing Blackbirds are probably the most common seed seekers in our garden. I've learned they come in different outfits. 

This is also a Redwing Blackbird, according to my bird ID book.
And my birdwatching mate, PK. 

  I like the willow tree backdrop for these super tall sunflowers,
which may still be hiding a bird or two.

As birds were searching for seeds, I was on the hunt for the last of 2022's harvest. I picked up some late-season gifts enhanced by the summer-like weather we've enjoyed into late fall. That's gone now.

I somehow failed to add a few late cantaloupes to this image. 

As I finish this post on a late October morning, I can still spot birds scratching in the dirt but they appear to be absent from the flower heads. Fog hides the sky and the sun. No more 'golden sunrises" for a while. Frost was forecasted for this morning but didn't materialize. Maybe tomorrow?

Birds and gardeners are in transition. Ahhh. We gardeners are taking a break. Birds, of course, continue to search for food. They get along fine without us feeding them. But still. PK and I will be stocking up on bird seeds and suet ASAP. 

Note: I put away my iPhone and took all photos in this post with my old Panasonic Lumix. 

PREVIOUS GARDEN POSTS 

Living in a time of pandemic is better with gardening.

GOODBYE GARDEN, HELLO FUN!