Backyard Bird Watch: The Effects of Introducing Bird Foods on Suburban Bird Populations
Overview
Objectives/Goals My objective was to determine if offering a variety of bird foods would increase the bird visitors in my suburban backyard. Methods/Materials At first, I observed my yard for three days without bird food present. Then I placed four different types of bird food in a variety of feeding stations. I recorded the number of birds, their species and behaviors at 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM for a total of thirty-five days. Each observation period was fifteen minutes long. Results During the first three days with no food present, I logged only two bird sightings. After thirty-two more days of observation with a variety of foods present, I tallied 720 bird sightings of thirteen different species. The most common visitors were Goldfinches with 372 sightings. The largest total number of birds on a single day was forty-four. Conclusions/Discussion I concluded that introducing a variety bird foods significantly increased bird activity during the observation period. The most active feeding times were 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Birds were rarely seen at 4:00 PM. Black thistle seed was the most popular food and suet was the least popular. My research would aid backyard birdwatchers in having a more successful viewing experience in my area.
Summary statement
I placed a variety of bird foods in my suburban backyard to attract birds and observed and recorded data three times daily for thirty-five days.
Help received
My Mother proofread my report and completed the 12:00 PM observation on school days. My Father taught me how to create graphs with Excel.
Competition history
- CSEF 2007
Resources
Related projects
CSEF · 2007
Dining with the Birds: What Type of Seeds Do Birds Prefer to Eat?
CSEF · 2009
The Effect of Urbanization on a Woodland Bird Community
CSEF · 2012
Bird's Cafe: Colored Birdseed vs. Natural Birdseed
CSEF · 2007
Feeding Preferences of Woodland Birds
ISEF · 2021
Factors that Affect Bird Activity and Diversity In Jefferson County in the Morning vs. the Afternoon
CSEF · 2017
The Impact of Increasing and Decreasing Food Sources on Hummingbird Behavior
CSEF · 2004
Do Birds Respond to Different Colored Bird Seed?
CSEF · 2008
Factors Affecting Competition for Food in a Woodland Bird Community
Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.
Browse more like this
Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects