I’ll be quite honest, my fondness for dandelions started by laziness but was abruptly nurtured and grown by accident one spring day several years ago.
My lawn has always had a healthy amount of dandelions in it, mostly because I don’t take the time to individually pull them by hand and I refuse to use herbicides in my yard for any reason.
So, as a result, dandelions grow quite well here and are free to grow wherever they may.
I know they get a bad rap for some reason but hear me out and I’ll show you dandelions are not an unsightly weed but actually a good source of food for birds.
Yes, you heard that right, dandelions are a good source of food for several species of birds, including house finches, Cassin’s finches, and goldfinches.
A couple of years ago when I arrived home after an unsuccessful photography excursion at a nearby wildlife refuge I noticed a small flock of birds on my front lawn.
Being as my trip yielded no photographs I sat in my parked vehicle with a camera at the ready and watched the birds for a few minutes, hoping to capture a few images if at all possible.
It was spring and the dandelions in my yard were starting to go to seed.
And to my amazement, numerous house finches and goldfinches were both actively and intently feeding on the dandelion seeds.
I stayed in my vehicle and took photo after photo for nearly half an hour of birds eating dandelion seeds from my front lawn.
And this certainly wasn’t a fluke either I might say, not by a longshot.
Since that day whenever I was out in the yard, my attention was quickly grabbed by birds anywhere on my lawn.
What I began to notice was house finches and goldfinches were constantly on the ground feeding on seeds from bloomed dandelions all over the property.
That day on my front lawn certainly wasn’t a fluke and now because of this chance encounter a few years ago I not only leave the dandelions in my yard but encourage them to grow to help attract more house finches and goldfinches to the yard.
I am not opposed at all to putting out bird feeders as I have a couple of seed feeders in the yard but anytime I can let food for birds grow naturally in the yard I always encourage it as much as possible.
My yard will never be the most pristine piece of real estate on the planet but it will always have an abundance of birds, bees, butterflies, and dragonflies, all of which gives me far more enjoyment than an endless sea of perfectly groomed lawn could ever hope to offer.
There is something so enjoyable about going out in the yard and watching birds that I wish more people would discover and, in turn, make the small modifications that can and will help nature a bit more.
(For short nature clips and videos like this one about enjoying and enhancing the backyard for birds, check out our Backyards For Birds channel on YouTube for videos and updates about encouraging birds, bees, butterflies, and dragonflies to the yard.)
That is why we started this website, to help encourage others to make a few simple and beneficial changes to their yards for birds, bees, and other forms of interesting wildlife.
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