I plant some mammoth and a mix of many different colored smaller ones. I also have some Helianthus tuberosus that don't flower often, but did this year. I also found a few seeds from them which I plan on planting in the spring. I imagine birds found some before I did, as I only thought to check a few weeks after they had dried.
We have been designing our space with a plan to eventually have
chickens, so the sunflowers are part of that, as well as trellises for other plants, soil stabilization, pollinator habitat, to help attract wild birds which seem to help keep our diverse insect population in check, a possible oil/food source for the future, etc.
I plant a yellow sweet corn that seems to have been adapted to our short cool growing season. I often plant too densely which seems to result in many small/unfinished ears. I leave
alot of those on the stalks, and find many of the cobs scattered around, along with empty sunflower heads. It's fun to watch the squirrels climb
trees with them.
I haven't planted dent corn, but am hoping to try flint corn at some point. I will likely leave the stalks in the winter of those as well, and I imagine something will eat what I don't harvest, if not while standing, while becoming soil.
We have many robins and bluejays that hang around, sometimes bluebirds, goldfinch, some hummingbirds, chickadees and woodpeckers, an occasional flock of turkey, and others.