Bird's Cafe: Colored Birdseed vs. Natural Birdseed

Overview

Objectives/Goals My project goal was to determine if the color of birdseed would make a difference in how much birds would eat it. My hypothesis was that the color would affect how much the birds ate, and they would eat more green birdseed because the color green is often found in nature. Methods/Materials In my experiment, I tested wild birds, mostly finches, chickadees, and sparrows. I used one large bag of Kaytee Waste Free wild bird food and divided the bag into four parts. I used organic food dye and dyed an equal part of the bird seed blue, green, red, and left the last part uncolored. I made four bird feeders out of clear 1 liter water bottles the same size and shape. I filled each bird feeder with a different color birdseed and weighed each one at 595 oz with a food scale. I hung each bird feeder the same height off the ground and the same distance apart from each other on the same tree. Each day, for four days, I measured what was left of the birdseed using the food scale and then hung the bird feeders back on the tree, one position to the right. I repeated this four day experiment three times. Results At the end of the twelve days of testing, the birds had eaten a total of 907 grams of the natural (no dye) birdseed. They ate a total of 487 grams of the blue birdseed, 335 grams of green birdseed, and 255 grams of the red birdseed. Conclusions/Discussion The color of birdseed does affect how much birds will eat it. The birds in my backyard preferred the natural, uncolored birdseed to any of the three colors that I dyed the birdseed.

Awards (1)

• Fourth Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2012 Zoology · Entry J2211

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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