People keep asking for suggestions of activities that can improve their psychological health. I just discovered one such activity: bird-watching. I put up a huge bird-feeder in front of my study window. And right after I did it, it was like a scene from that Hitchcock movie The Birds. Birds descended on the feeder like it’s the second coming of bird Jesus.
I have already seen bright-red birds and two birds that look like small, flying peacocks: bright blue and with a spreading tail, or whatever you call it. And right now there is a grey bird with a bright red head. I obviously don’t know the names of birds in any language.
Staring at these birds is one of the most relaxing meditational activities anybody can come up with. Highly recommended.
Clarissa's Blog 
I should do this (if I can convince myself to stop migrating to the dining table to study).
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I know what you mean! Your Russian roots must be breaking through. 🙂 For us, the life of the intellect always happens around the dining table. I have to force myself not to end up at the dining table with my books. I placed my study right next to the kitchen because I just can’t think anywhere else. 🙂
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Aquariums can also be very relaxing (especially salt water ones). But they’re a lot more work too (especially salt water ones).
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You might find the field guide here useful in identifying the birds you see http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/outdoor-recreation/birding .
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Oooooh! This is good! Thank you!
I just realized that I must have seen a blue jay.
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I think I also saw cardinals. The ones that gave the name to the local sports team.
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Corvids are my favourite birds.
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http://birds.audubon.org/birdid for a guide covering the whole of North America, too
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Yes, that is an excellent resource. Get her a small set of binoculars for Christmas and Clarissa will soon be IDing all the birds. My late wife could actually hold a handful of oil sunflower seeds and have fledgling Chickadees feed off her hand ;-D
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I’d give the birds a good fight for the sunflower seeds because I love them. 🙂
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Since I live in Scotland and in a ground floor flat with a window looking at a back garden, I’ve been watching squirrels. They are regularly running up and down. Squirrel-watching is also quite comforting, I don’t feel myself that distant of nature. Before this I lived in a noisy place where there weren’t cool animals at all (only the insects, some drunken neighbours and an old dragon with seven heads from the next door).
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Yes, you have bluejays and cardinals. Look more closely and you can distinguish the male from female cardinal; he is all red and flashy, she has a red head but a brownish body (so she can blend into the foliage, thereby protecting the future of cardinals from predators). Also easy are tufted titmice (small and grayish, with a tiny tuft on top of their heads) black-capped chickadees, and mourning doves (slow and greedy). Woodpeckers have long beaks and, obviously, peck at things: peck, peck, peck, peck. For everything else you’ll probably need a book, such as those already identified by other readers. If you were to acquire a cat or two, watching the birds — from inside the house — is a great feline occupation: keeps them distracted for hours.
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Yes, I think I’m definitely seing a woodpecker at this very moment. It has a red head but instead of taking the seed from the feeder, it keeps pecking at the tree. This is fascinating. But I definitely need binoculars.
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My woodpeckers have red heads too. If you have a deck with a railing on your new house, the hardware store has metal arms to attach to the railing from which you can hang more feeders. Then you can dispense with the binoculars. Be advised, though, that bird feeders also bring squirrels, which means you will soon impoverish yourself keeping all your feeders full of seed! Enjoy.
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These squirrels are so crafty! The feeder I got (for free) was precisely the kind that is engineered to make it impossible for squirrels to access the seeds. And at first it worked. But then the squirrels figured out a very ingenious way to access the seeds. I was annoyed but then I thought, hey, squirrels are live creatures, too. Why not feed them as well? Although it’s true that the seeds are disappearing like crazy.
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What if you put some uncracked nuts for the squirrels in a different place (but close to this feeder), to attract their attention from the seeds.
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There used to be a very cute Norwegian livestream of a bird feeder that looked just like a miniature bar. Birds would come and sit on the tiny little bar stools and stuff themselves with seeds. Squirrels, on the other hand, just lounged on the bar while eating.
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Prediction: you install “squirrel-proof” bird feeders not for the birds, but so you can watch the squirrels in their escalating war against clever machinery …
The marketing claims in this advert video should not be believed:
I’ve seen feeders like these produce Squirrel Cyclones that resulted in all of the bird feed being scattered across the landscape. However, if you’re just looking to have some fun while watching squirrels, this can’t be beat. 🙂
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P.S. Black oil sunflower seed bring the greatest variety of birds; almost all species will eat it.
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I like that poem about bird watching:
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/letters-father
The poem is about old people, but it’s not like only old people do that. In my childhood in Ukraine, I loved feeding birds in winter and watching them. We even had a special bird feeder (with a roof to prevent snow from covering the seeds) on our balcony.
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If you put a piece of salo on a string, синицы (tits ?) will love that.
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Have you ever met a Ukrainian who can part even with a small piece of salo? 🙂 🙂
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// The feeder I got (for free) was precisely the kind that is engineered to make it impossible for squirrels to access the seeds.
Often all kinds of “clever” staff are less effective than old good ideas:
http://olafandw.narod.ru/mayn/ohumet/pb/broserssisters/kormushka.html
If a bottle is cut close to its opening, it may be too narrow for squirrels.
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