Why do old women feed birds? They give food to birds out of a desire to help them, often spending money they don't have on buying choice seeds.. The British nature writer Mark Cocker holds that the ‘‘simple, Franciscan act of giving to birds makes us feel good about life, and redeems us in some fundamental way.’’
In Britain, garden feeding was popularized by the formation in the late 19th century of the Dicky Bird Society, a children’s organization that required members to take a pledge to be kind to all living things and to feed the birds in wintertime.
As people grow older they become more innocent in their sentiments and personalities. Basically it means that they become more spirituality oriented and less interested in material pursuits. They grow in wisdom about what is truly important in life and what you can let go of. They realize that all life matters including those of the ugly city pigeons, who can't find enough nutritious food in the urban centers. And so they sit on benches and feed them, often daily.