DIY Bird Feeder Science Project Ideas

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s current issue of “Living Bird News” encourages me to share ideas I’ve had about science projects involving bird feeders.  The magazine reported on a study of the times of day four species of birds feed in winter (black-capped chickadee, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, and house finch).  The results showed that the belief that birds feed heaviest first thing in the morning to recover from the long winter night might be wrong.   Birds did begin eating about a half hour before sunrise, but they ate more and more as the day progressed.  Another surprise was that most birds of three of the species stopped eating two hours before sunset.  This adds to the researchers’ thoughts that the birds are weighing the risks of exposing themselves to hawks at midday or screech owls in the evening against the risk of dying of hunger.   The chickadees, tufted titmice, and house finches might be choosing to avoid only the screech owls.  

That seems to be wise, since David Bonter, one of the researchers, did other fieldwork which showed large piles of dead songbird stashed in Eastern screech-owl birdhouses.

I was struck by his statement that we spend millions of dollars on bird seed without paying any attention to the results.

Here are two science projects that I can think of that could provide some of those results:

Bird Feeder Project 1:

Set up two identical bird feeders at a spot where you can see them while sitting down at your house.  Put in different feed in each feeder, for example, all sunflower seeds in one and a seed blend in the other.  For the seed blend, you could either buy one already mixed, or, do what I do, and design your own mix.  I designed my mix by going to a chart showing which birds ate which seeds and then assigning percentages of the mix based on the number of species eating each seed.  Then I translated the percentages into pounds based on a 20 or 40 pound bag.

But tonight I discovered a neat site at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s FeederWatch site:  http://feederwatch.org/learn/common-feeder-birds/.  You can click on your region of the country and then photos of birds common to your region are shown.  When you click on a picture of a bird you have or expect to have at your feeders, you get a list of foods they prefer.

As an example, using this web page, I took 12 species common to my feeders in central Ohio and counted up how many species at each food listed.  I got these results:

Hulled sunflower seeds: 12 species, 20% of 20 pound mix=4 lbs.

Black oil sunflower seeds: 11 species, 20% of 20 pound mix=4 lbs.

Peanut Hearts:  10 species, 15% of 20 pound mix=3 lbs.

Safflower seeds:  9 species, 15% of 20 pound mix=3 lbs.

Cracked Corn: 5 species, 5% of 20 pound mix=1 lb.

Suet: 6 species, not applicable to seed mixes

Nyger Seed: 6 species, 10% of 20 lb. mix=2 lb.

Mealworms: 6 species, not applicable to seed mixes

Whole Peanuts: 5 species, not applicable to seed mixes

Millet: 4 species, 5% of 20 lb. mix=1 lb.

Milo (Sorghum): 4 species, 5% of 20 lb. mix=1 lb.

Oats: 1, 1% of 20 lb. mix=1 lb.

Sugar water: 1 species, not applicable to seed mixes

Fruit: 1 species, not applicable to seed mixes (unless use tree fruit and nut mix as I do)

This gave me some surprises that make me want to re-think my current mix, which I designed by including all species in the list I think, rather than tailoring it to those in my region, or those visiting my feeders.  Here are the surprises for me:

·         Hulled sunflower seeds were a bit more popular than black oil sunflower seeds.

·         Peanut hearts were just below black oil sunflower seeds.

·         Six species ate nyjer seeds, while I thought only goldfinches did.  This makes me glad I include one pound of it in my mix, but makes me consider upping it.

·         I was also surprised that red bellied woodpeckers would eat fruit and drink sugar water!

Bird Feeder Project 2:

Compare different types of feeders.  The site I mentioned above allows you to see which birds in your region you’re likely to attract by the different types of feeders.  Of course, if you already have feeders, you can make a list of species that come to your feeder, even participating in Cornell’s FeederWatch project while you’re at it.   My first three weeks of participating in Feederwatch this season makes me think that platform feeders attract the most birds.  If you have a feeder that has Plexiglas or glass that slides out, you can turn that into a covered platform feeder by removing the glass.   You could also compare covered and uncovered platform feeders.

Links:

Living Bird News (By joining FeederWatch you get this newsletter which excerpts some articles from Living Bird magazine, which is available to Cornell Lab of Ornithology members.)

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Another Bird Feeder Project 

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