It's alright

Outside my window small  birds are feasting from seeds on the snow. My son Andrew  didn't
have time to remove the spent summer foliage this year. Andrew is a neat freak.

Thistle  heads still cling to fall asthers . They will still be there in Spring, providing nourishment.
for  the birds.

I had read the seeds nourish the birds that stay around in winter. I thought the seed would fall off and  wondered what happens with  a blanket of snow.

This morning I discovered . The birds land on the ground,  fly up and knock the branches about, then  they feast on seeds knocked off and clearly visible on the snow.

Putting bird seed out is an option. But it must be there every day. Birds have to feed every day to generate enough energy to survive the night.

If food is put out for them they depend on it. They don't look elsewhere for a food source. The feeder must be filled every day or the birds die.

The cedar hedge and spruce trees provide shelter, a tangled mass of withered fall asthers provide bounty and red cardinals, brilliant blue jays and  little birds in dark gray tuxedos and pale grey
vests find everything they need to make a home in my garden.

It's how things are supposed  to be