Charles Miller Jr. and his wife, Heidi, were walking their dogs in the Scotia Game Lands, watching where they stepped, when their attention shifted upward.

Sunflowers filled a section of the gamelands.

“It was just beautiful,” Charles Miller said.

“There are a lot of bees out there. They just love it. I’m sure the birds

are going to love it,” he said.

Thanks for the field of helianthus can be directed to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

“We plant sunflowers and other stuff on game lands that promote food for wildlife,” said spokesman Jerry Feaser.

Cliff Guindon, land management supervisor for the commission’s Northcentral region, said crews plant fields with a variety of covers, including winter wheat, and oats and clover in the spring. This year, the choice for a section was sunflowers.

“They’re primarily planted for birds, which are moving south by the second and third week of August,” Guindon said.

Turkeys, deer and bears also help themselves.

Guindon said bears eat sunflower

seeds the way most people eat popcorn — by the handful. They’ll sweep the flowers around them, knock them down in a pile and chow

lands to snap pictures of the sunflowers in bloom. Here are some of his shots.

Anne Danahy can be reached at 231-4648. Follow her on Twitter@AnneDanahy.