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The Current
Much of Colorado is breeding ground for double-crested cormorants, which don’t have fully waterproof feathers and therefore have to spend extra time preening and sunbathing. This is just one example of the importance of water to area birds.
Sharon Milligan/Audubon Photography Awards
February is National Embroidery Month did you know? It’s also National Hot Breakfast Month and Black History Month. Observed annually on Feb. 14 is the well-known Valentine’s Day, and February 17 is National Cabbage Day.
These monthly observations can be quite fun to learn about and celebrate – perhaps with some sauerkraut on the menu. But when we saw that February is National Bird-Feeding Month, Eagle River Watershed Council staff decided that it’s timely to share some important information about our feathered friends and the role our rivers and streams play in their lives.
February Is for the Birds
Tips for watching, feeding, and counting birds, wherever you are
During the past year, we were often told to listen to or follow the science. Well, I am happy to report that there is more and more scientific evidence to support the idea that everyone would be better off watching birds. You can watch them at a feeder while you are sitting on the couch, or you can go to a park to see them.
Studies from England, Los Angeles, and Spain indicate that the closer you live to a park and the more contact you have with nature, the better your mood, psychological well-being, mental health, and cognitive functioning scores will be. In short, watching birds is good for you, and you don’t even need a note from the doctor to do it. For those interested in the mental health aspects of birding, the book “Bird Therapy” by Joe Harkness will be helpful.
Courtesy of PixCams
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It’s not just that February is National Bird Feeding Month. Every month since the beginning of the pandemic last year has seemed like a bird feeding month.
Sales of feeders, seed and most anything to do with birds have skyrocketed as people have flocked to the avian world a safe, colorful and interesting haven during the sometimes glum and lonely days of the pandemic.
At the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania headquarters in Fox Chapel and its store at its Succop Nature Park in Butler, sales of feeders and seed have skyrocketed 200% since early last year.