How Being Around Birds Can Boost Your Happiness and Transform Your Garden
By Jill Brooke
Birds and flowers are such a happy combination.
Turns out being around birds is good for your health too.
A German study said, that living and working near a bio-diverse population of birds is as important to our happiness levels as our income. A 10% increase in bird diversity increases our satisfaction with life as much as a 10% pay raise.
“The happiest are those who can experience numerous different bird species in their daily life, or who live in near-natural surroundings that are home to many species,” says the study’s lead author Joel Methorst, a doctoral researcher at Goethe University in Frankfurt.
As the study says, even when they are not visible, birds are the most audible of the wildlife humans typically encounter. Most of us take for granted how much their cheerful songs do to boost our mood. And birds love to interact with flowers.
Cool right?
Here are the TOP 10 flowers that attract birds for the garden
- Sunflowers: A top seed flower that birds use for migrating
- Purple coneflowers: A perennial that provides seeds for birds in the fall and attracts butterflies
- Cardinal flowers: A flower that hummingbirds love for its nectar
- Virginia creeper: A vine that provides fruit for birds like mockingbirds, nuthatches, and woodpeckers
- Black-eyed Susans: A long-blooming perennial that attracts finches and chickadees
- Daisies: A garden favorite that provides nutritious seeds for birds like finches and cardinals
- Asters: A fall bloomer that comes in a variety of colors and provides seeds
- Marigolds: An annual that provides seeds for many birds, including grackles and crows
- Zinnias: An annual with daisy-like flowers and nutritious seeds that hummingbirds and finches love
- Goldenrod: A perennial that blooms from August to October and provides nectar, insects, and seeds for birds
- Winterberry: A shrub that provides bright red berries throughout the winter for birds like bluebirds, cardinals, and robins
- Willowleaf sunflower: A native perennial with 3-inch yellow flowers and dark centers
Flower Power Daily, Buxton Pond Farm
Birds are also attracted to the colors orange and yellow, so you can try planting tulips, lilies, impatiens, and zinnia to attract orioles and warblers, or goldfinches.
In fact, another study found that interest in bird feeding increased globally after COVID-19 lockdowns, with a dramatic increase in search intensity for bird feeding, bird seed, and bird baths. The increase was seen in 115 countries, including many where bird feeding was not previously common. The market for feeders and bird food is now expected to grow from $5.02 billion in 2021 to $6.42 billion by 2028.
Many are now putting bird feeders in their gardens. It is a terrific way to enjoy your flowers and watching the birds dancing on them. You can also attach feeders to your windows if you don’t have an outdoor garden.
The fluttering arrival of birds to our windows sparked my son to get a book to identify the birds which included red-headed woodpeckers, cardinals, finches, doves, chickadees, blue jays and thrashers among many.
The study also said that birds are good indicators of overall biological diversity, particularly in urban areas, so a healthy environment is one where you can either hear or see birds.
And seeing birds also means having them around in decor – whether on fabrics, wallpapers or art. In fact, birds are often painted with flowers for many decorative purposes.
Just seeing birds in any way does lift your spirits.