Watching Birds Eases Isolation

The opportunity to set up a backyard bird watching station is ideal for many elderly and shut-ins who enjoy watching birds. Locating a feeding station in a place where it is visible from a large window creates a natural theater for nature lovers to observe, take notes on, and participate in the lives of the birds who come to depend on them for food. There are many benefits to be derived from setting up a bird watching station for the elderly and shut-ins.

Watching birds in the backyard is an excelent way to pass the time. For a shut-in, time can begin to creep. When one is unable to be active, seconds can turn into minutes and minutes can turn into hours. Since their bodies will not allow them to be out, they struggle to keep their minds busy. An activity like bird watching helps the ticking of those minutes and seconds and gives shut-ins a chance to enjoy a full day.

Another feature of watching birds that can be useful to shut-ins is the fact that it can, if they so desire, involve research. This research can help them to keep their minds sharp as they read, memorize, and track which birds are coming to their feeder. They may take a great deal of joy in keeping a notebook and beginning to understand the traffic patterns and behaviors of certain birds. Watching birds through a bird watching picture window with a pair of binoculars is much more mentally stimulating than staring at the television set all day.

Since many birds return to the same places to winter each year, and conversely, to the same spring and summer locations to nest, shut-ins may take a great deal of delight as they learn to identify the same birds that return seasonally year after year. By keeping a notebook documenting physical descriptions and behaviors, they will be able to track each bird's comings and goings and look forward to that bird's yearly return.

A problem that can plague some shut-ins is an over-riding feeling of uselessness. Setting up a bird feeder and building a community of birds that comes to count on it for food can eliminate this feeling. If a shut-in knows that the birds are counting on them, then the shut-in may feel as though this project is suddenly bigger than just watching birds. It has suddenly become a responsibility. Typically, that is a good thing.

If you are serious about creating a backyard space that is devoted to bird watching, do not be afraid to look to your local clubs and societies for advice. You will find that most bird watching enthusiasts are eager and willing to share their information if it will be helpful to others.