A growing body of research shows that seeing and
hearing birds could improve our mental health.
When you really think about it, it makes sense.
Research and anecdotal evidence has consistently shown that spending more
time in nature is associated with better mental and physical health.
>> About understanding what are the benefits of birdsongs?
Recent data has shown that listening to bird songs has been associated with
improved mood, alleviating symptoms of depression, anxiety, and even paranoia.
In this recent study,
they found that participants who listened to at least six minutes of bird noises,
which included a diverse array of birds, were associated with those benefits.
And so it's just a tactic that you can use to help brighten your morning,
listening to bird noises.
>> And for those of us who live in New York who only hear sirens?
>> I know that's a part of it.
As we were talking about,
being a New Yorker you feel like bird noises kinda go away, but they don't.
Studies also show that if you listen, and you actively listen, and
be present in your environment, you can listen to those bird noises.
>> He's absolutely right about that.
The great thing about birds is that they're literally everywhere.
[LAUGH] Whether you live in a rural part of the country, or
even a densely populated big city,
you very likely hear songbirds chirping away outside your window.
My favorite neighbor is the great horned owl that's pictured here,
giving us a sultry come hither stare.
He likes to hoot away in the trees near our home.
As I read about corrupt politicians, mass shootings, and other destruction for
the show super early in the morning, I can hear him and I absolutely love it.
Mr. Owl manages to put a smile on my face regardless of the terrible subject matter
I'm reading about.
Now, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, because several studies
do indicate that many experience improved emotions simply by hearing birds.
In one study, researchers asked about 1300 participants to submit reports about their
environment and well-being three times a day using an app called Urban Mind.
Now, the researchers wanted to study the impact of birds, but
the participants were not privy to that.
The app also collected data about the sleep quality,
subjective assessment of air quality, and location details.
By analyzing the data, the researchers found a significant positive
association between seeing or hearing birds and improved mental well-being.
Even when accounting for other possible explanations,
such as education, occupation, or the presence of greenery and water,
which have themselves been associated with positive mental health.
The benefits persisted well beyond the bird encounter.
If a participant reported seeing or hearing birds at one point,
their mental well-being was higher on average hours later,
even if they did not encounter birds the next check-in or at the next check-in.
So in another study, participants were asked to listen to six minute audio
recordings of various sounds, including traffic noise and birds.
The bird sounds were divided into two different categories,
diverse bird sounds, which included eight different species,
and less diverse bird songs, that only had two birds included.
Now, the researchers then had these subjects measure their emotional and
cognitive states.
And here are the results.
Participants who listened to more diverse birdsongs featuring the acoustic
acrobatics of eight species, reported a decrease in depressive symptoms,
in addition to significant decreases in feelings of anxiety and paranoia.
And those who listened to less diverse bird songs, two bird species,
also reported a significant decrease in feelings of anxiety and paranoia.
Now, unsurprisingly, for me at least,
the traffic noise worsened symptoms of depressive states.
Emile Stobe, who's one of the authors of the study,
emphasizes the healing aspects of the world around us.
But a growing body of research and the ever expanding list of endangered species,
makes it clear that birds are, in fact, in trouble.
They've been under threat, thanks to habitat loss, diseases like avian flu,
and even Floridian blueberry farmers who wanna protect their bushes.
Not really, they wanna protect their bushes from berry loving birdies.
In Florida in April, state wildlife officials charged two men with shooting
and killing colorful migratory cedar waxwings,
including a blueberry farmer trying to keep them off his bushes.
Also in Florida, a man was charged with driving a golf cart into
a flock of American black skimmers on the beach,
killing five birds because he is an awful person.
And don't be fooled by those anecdotal examples, because if you take a step
back and look at the bigger picture, the situation for birds is pretty bad.
Scientists estimate more than 3 billion birds have been lost in
the United States since 1970, and
dozens of species are considered endangered, threatened, or at risk.
Some of the most at risk, include the California condor,
which happens to be the largest and rarest bird in the United States.
According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service,
there were only 561 California condors left in 2022.
But believe it or not, we've made some progress in repopulating these birds,
because back in the 1980s,
their population had already dwindled to a mere 22 birds.
And the reverse is true for the island scrub jay,
which can only be found on Santa Cruz Island off the state of California.
At one point, there were as many as 12,000 of these vibrantly blue acorn lovers.
Today, there are just 2300,
because humans actually have been doing a pretty good job destroying
the small slice of land that these island scrub jays inhabit.
Island scrub jays have the smallest range, meaning that they exist on one
small island that once had the perfect conditions for them to thrive in.
Since the birds live for tasty acorns, they need plenty of oak
chaparral to gather and store their tasty treats for the winter.
When humans introduced nonnative mammals to the island,
it actually ended up decimating the ecosystem there.
Luckily, conservationists have been working hard to reverse this
man-made damage.
>> Free of the oak chaparral is one of the big
signs of habitat recovery across the Channel Islands.
[MUSIC]
The the island scrub jays, Aphelocoma insularis,
may be catalyzing that recovery.
The disturbance by non-native vertebrates was slowly removed, and
since then we've witnessed this amazing recovery of the ecosystem.
They like to take seeds from a tree, fly with them and hide them in the ground,
which serves as food storage for times of food scarcity.
And it's kind of a trick how the trees get their seeds out into the landscape.
They hide up to 5, 6000 seeds per season.
And when the winter isn't that bad or an animal forgets some of the seeds,
the acorns that stay in the ground are effectively dispersed.
>> Man, they're burying 5 to 6000 seeds per season?
I mean, those are some busy birds.
There are other birds under threat in the United States, though.
Last October, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative published its
sobering State of the Birds report.
They found that more than half of bird species in the country are in decline.
About 70 species of birds have lost at least half of their populations
in the past 50 years, and are poised to lose the other half in the next
half century if conservation efforts are not significantly ramped up.
Those 70 species are not yet listed as threatened or endangered, but
are at a tipping point, according to the report.
And that doesn't even include the birds that have already gone extinct or
have come dangerously close to being extinct, like the ivory build woodpecker.
The woodpecker hadn't been sighted since 2004, but luckily,
researchers believe they spotted these beauties in Louisiana recently.
Researchers with the National Avery in Pittsburgh claim that they
have captured images of the ivory build woodpecker on motion
activated trail cameras that they have placed in Louisiana.
The group reportedly recorded the birds in bottom land hardwood forests.
Sounds fun, and I really hope that the sighting was real.
The researchers also say that by using drones to scan the treetops for
the birds in 2019, they were able to capture, quote,
numerous images of the woodpeckers.
So while the US Fish and
Wildlife Service wanted to declare the woodpeckers extinct in 2021, some
scientists are urging them to hold off considering the latest alleged sightings.
And while humans have undoubtedly caused a great deal of damage to the planet and
the wildlife around us, what makes me hopeful is how humans have also brought
back some animals from the brink of extinction, like the American bald eagle.
>> Mastrianni is a New York City Urban Park Ranger Sergeant.
>> Plenty of open space for him to hunt.
>> He's been part of a more than 20 year
effort to bring the bald eagles back to New York.
The birds used to be plentiful here, but pollution of the city's rivers and
the pesticide DDT brought them to the brink of extinction.
>> What happened was the eggshells got really thin from this pesticide.
The eggs would break, and they weren't reproducing.
>> How dire did things get for the bald eagles here?
>> Basically, they were almost extinct from New York State.
>> Starting in 2001, the Parks Department relocated 20 fledgling eagles
from Alaska and Wisconsin to Manhattan's in Wood Hill Park.
That's Rob back in 2006 feeding the baby eagles.
The US government banned the use of DDT in 1972, and in recent years,
more funding and resources have been put toward cleaning up New York's rivers.
Now the eagles are thriving.
>> Just keep the eagles away from Donald Trump.
As long as you do that, everything will be okay.
Now, examples like that should give us hope.
Sometimes the issue of climate change can feel so impossible and overwhelming.
But we have clear examples of successful outcomes when it comes to repopulating
bird populations.
And that's good news!
That shows that humans can have a real impact.
And for all the negative stories we cover every single day that include all sorts of
terrible people, we really do have to hand it to the hardworking conservationists
who are going out of their way to ensure that they repopulate bird species
that are on the brink of extinction or currently endangered.
I have a lot of gratitude for people like that.
They give up a lot in order to ensure that they're protecting the planet and
the wildlife around us.