Bird Feeding to Build a Strong Bond Between Children and Their Grandparents

Facilitating a strong bond between your parents and your children is easier than you’d imagine. A loving relationship between generations helps with both mental and physical health. Bird feeding is an activity for all ages.

Not only will they find ways to bond, but it also benefits nature. It reduces stress and gets your parents up and out of the house. How do you do to get them started? How do you set up your parents’ yard to make bird feeding ideal?

Supplies You Need to Get Started

Birds can forage seeds and berries on their own, but it’s harder in a winter climate. To create the perfect backyard bird buffet, you want a few different feeders. A platform feeder is appreciated by larger birds, while smaller birds will happily eat from a tube feeder.

Add water in a heated birdbath if possible. A suet feeder will provide the fat that birds like woodpeckers crave. If you’re worried about squirrels, invest in a corn cob holder and place it nearby but away from the bird feeders. Squirrels will go for the corn if it’s available. Baffles can also help keep squirrels from reaching the bird feeders.

Types of Bird Seed

You’ll find that many birds are happy with sunflower seeds. The shell will biodegrade and become mulch in the lawn. If you don’t want waste, no-waste bird seed exists.

If you want to offer more food, look for mixes with dried berries. Some birds will also enjoy a platform feeder that has mealworms for protein.

As you see the types of birds that come to the feeders, you can adapt what seeds you buy. Woodpeckers will go for suet. Goldfinches love sunflower and thistle seeds. Cardinals enjoy safflower seeds. As spring arrives, you can attract orioles with half sections of oranges or grape jelly. Hummingbirds love nectar.

A Few Things to Consider

In areas where bears are common, place your feeders high up on a roofline where there’s no way for bears to reach it. You could install a pulley-system laundry line from a tree to an upstairs window. Place the feeders on that and refill the feeders as needed from the open window.

If any of the people in your neighborhood allow their cats to go outside, cats are also a problem. If the bird feeders are well off the ground, it will be harder for cats to get to the birds.

Finally, put the feeders near trees and shrubs when possible. It gives the birds some cover when they feel the need to hide while they eat the seed they just picked from the feeder.

Spend as much time as you can with your parents. When you can’t be there to help them out, make sure they have elderly care aides to assist them with daily activities. Elderly care providers can help them with laundry, housekeeping, transportation, and more. Call today to find out how elderly care can help your senior loved one.

IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING ELDERLY CARE IN SUMMERLIN, NV, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT GOLDEN HEART SENIOR CARE OF SUMMERLIN. 702-800-4616.