In stressful daily life everyone wants to relax a bit, and what better way than connecting with nature and watching and feeding some birds while taking fresh air. Birdfeeding can be a perfect break for you from the daily stress and tension while also can be beneficial for birds and their offspring.
The benefits of bird feeding are numerous, some of which are discussed here and can be a great start on your journey to develop this as a daily habit.
What is Birdfeeding?
Birdfeeding is simply an activity of feeding the birds with some bird food which is kept in birdfeeders in the backyard, balcony, terrace etc. It takes very minimal effort to make a suitable place where birds can come to eat and maybe find shelter for themselves. It attracts all the different types of birds. Most suitable bird food for birds that can be supplied are sunflower seed, nyjer seeds, bought food, peanut, kitchen scraps, berries, corn, potatoes and mostly anything. Although some birds may prefer different food than others.
What are the benefits of bird feeding?
Bird feeding helps cure depression and brings enjoyment.
Recent studies conducted on psychological effects that people have while bird feeding or just watching birds tells us that bird watching for 10 minutes helps us in decreasing stress, tension, depression, mental fatigue, tiredness etc. Testing for assessed psychological benefits, researchers found that most people felt relaxed and connected to nature when they watched birds in their garden. The feeling of being relaxed and connected to nature increased with the level of bird feeding activity, and in people who noticed birds for a greater proportion of the day. The feeling of relaxation also increased in respondents over 40 years old. You can read the whole journal on https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0158717#pone-0158717-t001
Bird feeding connects us with nature.
In the urban lifestyle, everybody is busy all the time doing work for livelihood, so a break becomes more than important to get some fresh air and interact with nature. Feeding the birds that come to your backyard and watching them can encourage you to spend more time outside of your home. As per recent research, spending a minimum of 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. A study from the University of Michigan proves that being in nature improves your memory, sense of self and happiness and helps you absorb vitamin d from the sun which can help reduce stress and possibly prevent cancer, osteoporosis and heart attacks.
Bird feeding helps in flower pollination.
Birds when eats nectar in a flower, sticky pollen gets attached to birds' feathers and beaks, and when birds go to another flower that pollen drops there and this process continues. If you have flowers in your backyard then birds will get attracted to flowers for nectar and the flowers will grow more which will a sight to watch.
Bird feeding ensures the growth and survival of bird offspring.
In recent times the population of birds are decreasing at an alarming rate which will cause damage to biodiversity. As per a 2019 scientific study, 3 billion birds were lost since 1970. The 2018 State of the World’s Birds, released in April, finds that nearly 40 per cent of bird species throughout the world are in decline. Bird feeders when provide food to birds, birds' parents don’t have to wander for long in search of food and they can easily feed their children with good food which will ensure further growth of the bird population.
Birds feeding helps in cleaning your home from insects, spiders and flies.
Birds eat small incests, so they will be a big help in cleaning off your backyard. Birds eat insects, spiders, worms, snails, spiders, bugs, beetles, dragonflies, winged insects, and moths.
When they will eat food from your feeder they will move on to eat incest as well.
You can also get rid of incest and weed from growing in your backyard as birds eat them and prevent them from growing. This way you will get free pest control which will be all-natural and environmentally friendly, what more to ask?
A chance to spend time with your family.
Watching different types of birds fly and make nests in your backyard with your family in the evening with some tea will give us a chance to enjoy some time with family, talk with them and have fun. What can be a more fun holiday than enjoying nature, and beautiful birds of many species with your lovely family, that will be the ultimate entertainment for everybody.
Helping hands for birds during the winter season.
As human civilization has seen growth, the forest area which is the natural habitat of most birds has reduced. During the winter season winter for winter birds, the struggle for finding food has become more and more hard. By simply putting a bird feeder in our backyard we can be a helping hand to these birds who for some reason are unable to migrate and can’t find shelter and food due to cold and snow. In winter it also becomes hard to find food because seeds are buried deep inside the snow that falls, which buries many food resources along with seeds for birds. As per a recent study conducted by Millikin University, the survival rate of birds during winter increased by 38% in an area where bird feeders were in there.
Bird feeding improves your knowledge about birds and nature all-around.
When you will start bird feeding, you will know about different kinds of birds that come to eat from your feeder and what food they like the most and in what season they migrate and all kinds of other information. Along with that information that you learn, there’s a huge possibility that you gather other information related to birds, weather, season, bird food etc. like in this article you are reading. All this knowledge that you will gather will help in a better understanding of nature and yourself. You will observe and learn about the environment in more detail.
Bird feeding will help you better your photography skills.
If you seek a career in the photography field or it is what you like doing as a hobby you will get a whole lot of chances to practise and sharpen your skills if you have a bird feeder in your house. That’s because you can click photos of birds as much as you want. Photography is a skill set that will always give you an upper hand while doing anything art-based. In modern times the demand for photographers is increasing, one reason being social media and the internet in general. So definitely use a bird feeder if want to improve your photography skills.
Conclusion:-
Bird feeding can be a lot of fun while giving you knowledge about nature, improving your mental fitness, decrease depression, stress, tension and anxiety. It also proves to benefit birds and nature as we discussed above. The possibility of surviving bird offspring rises if bird feeders are in a good amount in the area. In winter bird feeders can be a great help for birds. Bird feeding helps you spend some time with your family in peace with nature and is very entertaining. Simply putting a bird feeder in your home can help you and the bird both and reconnect the link between you and nature again.
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