Do Birds Respond to Different Colored Bird Seed?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The title of my project is #Do Birds Respond to Different Colored Bird Seed?# The purpose of my project was to see if birds were affected by color, more specifically if birds would respond to different colored birdseed in their typical environment. The outcome was something far from expected. Methods/Materials In my experiment I tested mainly wild birds, mainly sparrows and common small birds found in Calabasas# environment. . I bought a bag of Wild Bird Food. Then I bought red, green, blue, and yellow food coloring. I divided the bag up into five different sections and dyed each one of the sections a different color and left one section its natural color. Then, I measured 100 mL of each different colored bird seed with a graduated cylinder from. I then proceeded to go outside into my backyard and put the bowls on ledge which would be quite accessible for the birds. I left the bowls there for a four-day period, each day I measured how much bird seed was consumed and put the remaining amount back on the ledge. After three days I would measure the lasting amount of bird seed and then refill each bowl with 100 mL of bird seed. I did four, four-day trials, calculating my data each day. The colors of the bird seed were my changing variables and the colorless birdseed was my constant. Results My results displayed that the birds were highly affected by the color of the birdseed, furthermore they responded best to neutral color and yellow. They also responded well to the red birdseed. Conclusions/Discussion Since birds have such a high perception of color, they are most definitely affected by the color of the bird seed. According to the research I have done, birds have a greater response to colors found frequently in nature such as the natural color, yellow, and the green. However they are also highly receptive to the red dye because it is one of the foremost pigments in the clones of the eyes, of birds.

Competition history

• CSEF 2004 Zoology · Entry S1905

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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