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Fall Flower Bed Is Dream Come True For Hungry Birds

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or the beak-holder in this case.

As summer winds down and flowers die back, many turn into bare brown knobs atop dry tan stems. They may not look lovely to me or you, but the birds have been waiting for this sight all season; it's their cue to come have a snack!

You'll soon see them in your flower patch plucking seeds from thistles, coneflowers, zinnias, sunflowers, bee balm, black-eye Susans, or what-have-you. Cardinals, jays, sparrows, chickadees and lots of other songbirds are happy to perch on dried flower stems or peck around on the ground to gather seeds all through fall and well into winter.

So if the sight of those browned flower heads is bothering you, look at them from a bird's eye view and you'll see them as a free seed machine for your fluttering feathered friends.

Even if things do look a little bare without the pretty petals, at least there's still plenty of color in a fall flower garden when it's full of feasting finches.

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