I’ve been doing something similar to what Ric mentioned. My father-in-law moved into a nursing home in Cedar Rapids in January. They have very nice feeders on shepherd’s hooks in front of all the windows of his wing, but only one (in front of the common room window) was being kept filled. I asked if there was any problem with me filling them. There wasn’t so now I’m keeping three feeders going, and may take on more in the Spring when I can get to more of them without having to mush in! Previously, he lived in an up-scale retirement home and they had a number of nesting boxes and feeders that they kept clean and filled, plus a large inside aviary for exotic birds.
These two places apparently “got it” when it came to the importance of nature to the quality of life for seniors, whether in retirement communities or nursing homes. I suspect that the absence of wildlife viewing opportunities has more to do with the absence of a home or staff commitment to that aspect of quality-of-life. Advocacy and support of wildlife viewing/encounters and programming for both elderly centers and child care centers would be excellent mission activities for birding groups, and might be a good initiative for IOU. Walt Stephenson, Cedar Rapids [email protected] --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]. Unsubscribe at http://iowabirds.org/Reporting/Listserv.aspx.
