I had a familiar friend visiting my garden for the first time in months. I went downstairs like I do most mornings and there was a friend whom I subsequently started called Flappy. A year or so ago, a mom and dad Helmeted Guineafowl brought their two chicks to my garden almost on a daily basis. The mom and dad have never since again visited my garden. But the two chicks, I think, have been visiting my garden in an on and off fashion. I would guess that the one that I called Flappy grew out of his "flappy" stage and the sister whom I called Nervy is still nervous to this day! I managed to "talk" to Flappy for a while, winning his trust to get real close to take some photographs. In getting down into the ground and seeing up close what they do, I saw that they ate the seeds from the weeds that I left in the garden! This particular weed or wild herb, Chickweed (Stellaria media), produces four or so seeds per seed pocket. And I took some images of Flappy eating these seeds. (If you want to see why I came to call him flappy, see this post I made a couple of months ago.)
Before sharing how they ate the seeds, here are some nice closeups I took of Flappy as I ran all around him in the garden, slowly winning his trust.
I took these images in the morning. Before sharing the other photographs of Flappy happily eating chickweed seeds, I want to share a couple of images I took on my afternoon walk. There is a small dam or pond I walk past every day. There are so many ducks and I think Cape Weavers. I could not manage to get real close, but I managed to snap some photographs of them making their little nests, all busy now that the summer is on its way!
I think these are normal ducks, White Pekin ducks if I am not mistaken. They swam so quickly up to me that my autofocus could not keep up! It made for some stunning images, albeit that the ducks were a bit out of focus. (More incentive to invest in new camera gear as mine are now almost 15 years old!) The photographs came out looking really artistic with the water ripples. Their feathers were so nice and white, I think they look so healthy. I felt so bad that I did not have a snack for them, as they looked so determined to get something from me.
And now, here is Flappy snacking on some chickweed seeds! I realized whilst taking these photographs the importance that what we commonly label as weeds play in the ecosystem.
Modern gardeners have a disdain for weeds. At all cost, they would get rid of what they see as weeds. People will poison them and try to get rid of them in various cunning ways. This is good for a perfectly manicured garden, but not all plants produce seeds year-round for bird friends and other animals to snack on.
I know that my own indigenous fynbos flowers rarely go to seed. Various plants in my garden do not seed, nor do they produce fruit. Feathered friends like Flappy would thus have nothing to eat if there is nothing that grows seeds or fruits. Also, getting rid of all the weeds with things like herbicides might kill the small insects. These are also so important for especially the helmeted guineafowl diet.
Crouching and laying down close by looking at Flappy eating his seeds, do we not as gardeners have the biggest responsibility of leaving weeds and insects untouched? Yes, they do not look as pretty as a weeded garden, but does this not lead to a reduction of bio-diversity, which might then prevent birds like Flappy to visit the garden?
I sometimes wreck my mind thinking about everything we as humans do to prevent the flourishing of nature around us. We kill weeds and insects because we do not like them, but we only spend a couple of minutes in the garden contemplating this manicured but essentially lifeless "artwork".
I thus opt to leave the weeds in my garden for Flappy and the other friends to eat. A messy garden full of so-called weeds might not look perfect, but I sure know that Flappy and the others appreciate it because I have seen so much life get back into my garden.
Here are some other photographs I took of Flappy whilst I ran after him throughout the garden. I hope that you leave some so-called weeds in your garden for the feather friends to snack on!
