Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
WATCHING WILDLIFE CAN AND DOES REDUCE STRESS December, 2012/January, 2013 issue Two years ago, with my wife’s blessing, I spent just under a thousand dollars, erecting an aluminium garden shed, complete with wooden foundation and a small deck at its approach. The building wasn’t for garden tools, or firewood, or flower pots. It was for bird feed. The building houses all my bulk bird feed, separated, and affectionately stored in galvanized garbage cans, lined with plastic. I purchase all my feed in huge quantities from a distributor in Picton, just a 20 minute drive from where I live. The cans contain mixed seed, sunflower seed, niger seed, safflower seed, and peanuts in both whole and shelled form, some of the bags so huge as to barely fit in the back of my car. Shelving units provide storage for unused feeders, scoops, suet bars, spare suet logs, a box of spare plastic bags with which to line the containers, and spare parts. I spent a day completely wiring the building, with an indoor light, an electrical outlet, as well as a powerful floodlight on the outside of the building for those 5:00 a.m. feedings. The building even has a clock. Although no one has dared challenge me yet on my decision, it is an expenditure for which I offer no apology. I emphasized this at a bird feeding workshop I held recently, attended by over 70 avid bird enthusiasts. We no longer feed birds because we feel a sense of obligation to do so during the three lean months of the year; we do so because we enjoy their presence in the backyard, pure and simple. There is nothing wrong with that, despite the warnings of doomsayers and windsocks whose knowledge of birds usually extends no further than the backyard birdbath. You need to understand, that birdfeeding for me is a form of relaxation. My setup is just outside my home office window where I can look upon 30 or more feeders, all concentrated in an area of only 50 feet square. When my mind grinds to a halt at the computer, all I have to do is take in the activity at the feeders and the world makes sense again. Some feeders hang from a large maple tree, others dangle from poles, some from a red cedar, a few from a Russian olive, and still others from a white spruce. My birds even enjoy a heated pool – a large basin of water equipped with a built in de-icer and thermostat. The entire ground area beneath the feeders is kept clear of snow in the winter with the help of my snowblower. Birding – birdfeeding in particular – is a hobby and spending exorbitant sums to enjoy this pastime is no different from the photographers I meet every spring at Prince Edward Point and Presqu’ile Provincial Park, armed to the teeth with many thousands of dollars’ worth of sophisticated photographic equipment – to take pictures of birds. The hobby is a release valve and all return to their places of employment totally refreshed and revitalized. You can`t put a dollar figure on that. The bird feeders outside my office window always work like magic. While writing my book, “Up Before Five – the Family Farm” two winters ago, thought processes often ground to a halt, the same as they do when I write my columns in local newspapers. All it took to jump start my brain again was to swing around in my chair, and look out the window at the menagerie of birds outside at the feeders. Early this past fall, it was the pine siskins, hundreds of them vying for space at the niger feeders. Sometimes, it is the cardinal, cautiously working his way to his favourite feeder at the red cedar for safflower seed. Or, it might be the juncos and tree sparrows on the ground scratching for their favourite tidbits, or the chickadees darting back and forth. In the summer, it is the downy woodpecker, offering its young family suet, and the chipping sparrows filling up on finch seed. One year, it was a family of brown thrashers, another year a family of catbirds. Quite correctly, birds could be described as stress relievers. The benefit of animals toward relaxation has been well documented over the years. Studies going back as far as the late 1980s have shown that gazing at aquarium fish for example reduces stress and subsequently lowers blood pressure. We are hypnotized by their peaceful and serene nature, creating a calming effect for a few moments in our hectic lives. Seniors who were provided with an aquarium filled with fish had significant blood pressure reduction. Watching fish has been shown to calm children who suffer from hyperactivity disorder. Dental patients who were subjected to hypnosis vs. an aquarium experienced the same or greater benefit from the aquarium. Other studies have shown that dental patients required less pain medication after having watched fish in the office. It's little wonder that physician offices, dental clinics, and even waiting rooms for counsellors have traditionally kept an aquarium in the waiting room. Studies have shown that seniors who have Alzheimer’s experience a variety of health benefits from watching an aquarium. Alzheimer patients ate more, and required fewer supplements after an aquarium was placed in the dining room. They also exhibited less physically aggressive behaviours. Owning pets, as another example, not only provide us with companionship by making us feel secure and happy, they act as an anchor or stable force that helps one cope with the stresses of everyday life. Their unconditional love gives our mental and physical health a boost, and for this reason there is much to be said about the responses humans have had to pet therapy as an alternative or supplementary treatment to help reduce stress, as well as treat a whole range of medical and emotional ailments. This therapy is widely used in nursing homes, prisons, hospitals, and schools to reduce loneliness, anger, depression, and stress. A leader in the area of pet therapy research found that cardiac patient survival rates were higher for those who owned pets, and that elderly people with pets made fewer visits to the doctor's office. In the final days before my mother died 11 years ago, it was often difficult to rouse her from a seemingly comatose state in the nursing home, but the moment she spotted the Sheltie/Terrier I owned back then, her arms would stretch out, and she was alert once again. Dogs, cats, dolphins, and many other types of social animals have been used for years for this type of therapy, with encouraging, positive results. Even walking a dog is good for a little human stress management via fresh air and exercise. This ability of animals to provide calming effects could explain the reason for the popularity of wildlife watching these days, be it at a zoo, on TV, on a guided hike, in an aquarium, gazing at birds through binoculars in the field, or just watching them through a window. Spending money on pursuits such as these is not an expense, but rather, an investment. For more information on birding and nature and guided hikes, check out the NatureStuff website at www.naturestuff.net Terry Sprague lives in Prince Edward County and is self-employed as a professional interpretive naturalist.