Materials List:

• 1 cup suet
• 1 cup wild birdseed
• Pine cones
• Saucepan
• Wooden craft stick
• Waxed paper
• Heavy string

First, Tie on a short length of sturdy cord around the top of the pine cone. Next, stir up a suet mixture. Suet is hard beef or mutton fat. (You can get it at the supermarket meat counter.) To mix the suet, you must first melt it. Cut it into small pieces, and heat it over low heat. As the fat melts, stir it until it’s mostly liquid. Strain the liquid into another container to cool a bit, and then it’s ready to mix. Once the melted suet has cooled slightly, mix it with the bird seed. Use a wooden craft stick to press the mixture into a pine cone. Hang the feeder outdoors on a tree. This feeder will attract a variety of birds.

Requiring no prior experience or special equipment, birdwatching is an inexpensive and flexible hobby. Low-key and relaxing, birdwatching can be as simple as placing a bird feeder outside a window in a common area, or as involved as organizing a recreational activity to make pine cone bird feeders.

Encouraging feathered friends to visit your therapeutic garden in autumn, while natural food sources are still plentiful, teaches them that you are a go-to location for sustenance. Then, once winter settles over your garden, feathered visitors will drop in, offering ever-changing pops of color and vitality for your residents and guests.

The Alzheimer’s Association suggests that continuing to learn new things helps to form new neural paths, contributing to overall health of the brain.  For those new to birding, identifying the bird species and committing them to memory can be a stimulating mental activity. More experienced birders can focus on learning more about the everyday behavior of local birds.

Late fall is the prime time for birds, making November the ideal time to begin introducing a birdwatching hobby to your older adults.  One of the most popular retirement activities, birdwatching is a healthy, low-cost hobby that both engages the senses and encourages seniors to keep learning.

Additional reading – The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a wonderful resource to learn more about birds, where scientists, conservations, engineers, educators, and students all work together for a common purpose: to understand birds and other wildlife, to involve the public in scientific discovery, and to use that knowledge to protect our planet.