They have numerous studies, and some of them don’t involve being outside or socializing.

While that probably helps as well, it’s definitely not the only thing involved.

Her team installed bird feeding stations outside 65 homes, positioned so that residents could watch the birds from the comfort of the indoor common area, and assessed the residents’ cognition, mobility and wellbeing through self-reports and inputs from staff and family. They saw improvements after just a few weeks, and after a month birdwatching explained residents’ wellbeing better than their age and care level.