Bird feeding is not just for the birds but may be good for the human soul, too, researchers say

Lifestyle December 11, 2023

Lead researcher in Virginia of a new study acknowledged a personal experience within her own family

An American professor is studying the positive effects on humans of bird feeding after observing a family member’s strong attachment to the hobby.

Ashley Dayer is an associate professor in the Fish and Wildlife Conservation department at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Dayer, who said her own mother is very committed to bird feeding, is the lead author of an article recently published in People and Nature. Its aim: to find the positive human effects of bird feeding.

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Researchers believe they will find that bird feeding benefits humans and should play a role in public guidance and policy, according to Virginia Tech News.

Dayer told the university’s publication that many wildlife agencies do not consider the science behind "what’s going on with birds" or "the science behind what’s going on with people."

Researchers are looking at the positive impacts that humans can have when they take the time and care to feed wild birds. (iStock)

The associate professor said her interest in investigating the benefits of bird feeding began in 2021 when she saw that state agencies were advising people to stop feeding birds due to disease outbreaks.

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But after doing her own research, Dayer said she and other researchers found that 23 states had made those recommendations without evidence that doing so would actually stop the diseases from spreading.

Along with Dayer, Virginia Tech professor of biological sciences Dana Hawley told Virginia Tech News that studying the effects of bird feeding on humans was not something she'd ever really thought about prior to this revelation.

A researcher said she knows the commitment people can have to bird feeding, as she's seen her own mother's love for the hobby. (iStock)

"In all my years of studying how bird feeding impacts wild birds, I didn’t give much thought to how it can also impact the people that spend their time and money feeding and watching birds," she said.

The new project is an extension of the work Dayer and Hawley have been doing for the past six years.

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The group of researchers are now using FeederWatch, a network of bird enthusiasts — which, for the past 37 years, has asked participants to observe and report what they see at their feeders from November to April.

For this new study, researchers began by asking participants to observe their own well-being through FeederWatch. They received roughly 8,000 submissions in the first week of this season, according to Virginia Tech News.

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The passionate response from the bird-feeding community, however, is something Dayer is not new to, as she noted her mother would go as far as to cut her vacation short to be home to feed the birds.

Researchers said that roughly 8,000 bird feeders participated in the first week of their new study. (iStock)

"I’ve lived with someone who was really into bird feeding and have seen how important it can be," she told Virginia Tech News.

Dayer told Fox News Digital that the study participants are now sharing their emotional responses to the birds.

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"They are also sharing information about their emotional responses to the birds they see, the mammals they see, observations of disease or dead birds," she said.

Researchers are already seeing the emotional impacts that birds have on people. (iStock)

Dayer said researchers are already noting that an emotional sadness prevails when participants come into contact with dead birds — whether the deaths were caused by predators, weather or illness.

Hawley told the university’s publication that she hopes their research will "help us develop guidelines for bird feeding that minimize risk to wild birds and maximize the benefits to the people that feed them."