Sunflowers, Bees and Goldfinches

by Lori Kasher Plot #82

I have always loved to plant sunflowers at our community garden! They are happy flowers full of yellow sunshine. The faces of sunflowers follow wherever the sun goes. They come in many different color’s red, brown, orange, maroon and of course yellow centers with the petals. I enjoy birding and see so many American Goldfinches eating seeds from the sunflowers ever summer. They also eat seeds from thistle, and asters. This summer a fellow gardener pointed out nests in the trees near Norma’s Birdhouses.

I found a very small nest in the North corner of the garden. The female builds the nest usually in a shrub or tree that has two to three vertical branches up high. I could see the nest in the tree outside garden. The nest is shaped like a cup with rootlets and plant fibers lined with plant down, woven so tightly that it can hold water. The female takes about six days to build the nest. Supporting the foundation of the nest using spider silk. The nest is small 3 inches across and 2-4 inches high. (From Cornell Lab All About Birds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/).

Goldfinches are common but their number has decreased by 27 % from 1966 to 2019 by the American Bird Survey.

I love to see goldfinches fly, they almost swoop or have a bouncy flight and acrobat when they balance on the head of a sunflower and eat the seeds.

Pairs do not nest till mid to late summer. That is why we see so many in July and August when we have beautiful sunflowers.