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Planting for the Birds - Sunflowers

© Mel. White

I catch them darting away as I walk up to the kitchen window -- the brown and gray shapes of our little sparrows, cleaning up the sunflower seed mess that the kids left behind when refilling the feeder. There's no waste with these eager finches around -- at least, as long as the food is black sunflower seed! Other birds are shyer about cleaning up the mess, but the bold little sparrows come raiding the strewn seeds on our kitchen window sill. Like many of the seed eating birds, these hardy little finches will stuff themselves on sunflower seed if given half a chance.

The showy sunflower (so named because the flower turns to follow the position of the sun throughout the day) was originally a native American plant, and grown as a crop by the American Indians. In the 1500's, the sunflower was introduced to Europe along with corn and tobacco. The sunflowers did surprisingly well in their new home -- so well that by the time settlers began arriving in America in the 1600's, the sunflower was already a familiar plant in the old world -- as an ornamental flower! It was only after they saw the Indians cultivating them for food that the Europeans became convinced that sunflowers were edible.

Sunflowers come in a wide variety of sizes and colors, from an icy white thorugh a deep bronze-red. All of them produce edible seeds, though the seeds from some ornamental varieties are pretty small. The birds don't seem to mind this, however. We've noticed that the sunflower seeds that always seem to vanish first are the black, oil-rich varieties. They never last long once the finches arrive.

Other sunflower eating birds include cardinals, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches bluejays, sparrows, woodpeckers,grosbeaks, mockingbirds, and mourning doves. Not all birds appreciate these seeds, however. Grackles and some of the less desirable birds prefer millet to sunflower seeds, which means you can discourage these pests from hanging around your yard by the simple act of not feeding them.

The type of sunflower seed you feed in the summer isn't critical -- you can buy whatever's cheapest. But when you're winter feeding birds, set out the slick black-oil sunflower seeds for them. These seeds are high in the proteins and oils that are necessary to keep their feathers in good condition during winter storms.

Sunflowers are very easy to grow. I gave them to the kids to plant when they wanted to "help mommy garden". When I'm growing ornamental varieties, I buy commercial seed packets, but if I'm growing bird food sunflowers, I simply plant some of the seed from the bags of bird feed. About 30 plants will keep the birds around my yard in rich oily seeds for most of the mild Texas winters.

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