Rachel

Where Do Birds Like To Eat?
**Introduction** In my backyard we have two feeders, one close to the house and one close to the woods, or farther away. I always wondered if where you put a feeder changed the number of birds that came and the amount of seed they ate. I used this assignment to answer the question. ** Question ** Do birds eat more from feeders close to a house, or from feeders close the woods?


 * Background Information **

Most web sites say that the placement of bird feeders should be convenient for you to fill up. They don't say much about birds preference. I haven't been able to find a lot of information on this topic.

**Hypothesis** I expect that it won't make a significant difference because birds will probably eat from both bird feeders. More birds may eat from the feeder closer to the woods, because they could be scared off by people moving around in my house.

**Variables** My independent variable is where the bird feeders are placed. My dependent variable is how much bird seed is left in the feeders. My control variables are the kind and amount of bird seed, the bird feeders, and how long I leave the feeders up. There are always lots of variables in experiments involving nature. The main ones that I think could affect my experiment are the weather, (if its raining all the time birds might not come out a lot) and other animals(my cat, or wild animals in the woods might scare them away, and keep them from coming to either feeder).

**Process** I will fill two bird feeders with sunflower seed. I'll place one of the feeders near my house and one more in the woods. I will leave them up for a week, each morning I'll fill the feeders to the top and weigh them then, each night I'll see how much is left and weigh that. The next week I will repeat the proses of weighing and filling the two feeders each day. I will collect data over two weeks to reduce the possibility of weather, or other uncontrollable variables, affecting my experiment. **Results** Feeders: When the feeders are full there is seven inches of seed, and each feeder weighs 481 grams.

Birds: The first bird I saw was on the feeder closer to the woods, it was a House Finch. I spent seventeen minuets recording the birds that came to the close and far feeder. In that time I spotted a Chickadee four times, a Titmouse one time, and a Cardinal one time at the close feeder. At the far feeder I spotted a Chickadee thirteen times, a Titmouse seven, a Cardinal one time, and five others other birds with I couldn't identify.
 * || Far feeder seed start || Close feeder seed start || Far feeder seed end || Close feeder seed end || Total seed eaten: far feeder || Total seed eaten: close feeder ||
 * 10/14 || 167 grams || 162 grams || 6 grams || 103 grams || 161 grams || 59 grams ||
 * 10/16 || 167 grams || 167 grams || 4 grams || 104 grams || 163 grams || 63 grams ||
 * 10/17 || 164 grams || 164 grams || 70 grams || 151 grams || 94 grams || 14 grams ||
 * 10/18 || 162 grams || 167 grams || 3 grams || 110 grams || 159 grams || 57 grams ||
 * 10/21 || 162 grams || 162 grams || 4 grams || 124 grams || 157 grams || 38 grams ||
 * 10/22 || 162 grams || 165 grams || 8 grams || 117 grams || 164 grams || 48 grams ||
 * 10/23 || 164 grams || 163 grams || 12 grams || 138 grams || 152 grams || 25 grams ||
 * 10/24 || 166 grams || 165 grams || 7 grams || 153 grams || 139 grams || 12 grams ||
 * 10/25 || 168 grams || 165 grams || 14 grams || 154 grams || 154 grams || 11 grams ||
 * Total || 1320 grams || 1480 grams || 128 grams || 1154 grams || 1343 grams || 327 grams ||



After I collected my data I looked to see if there was a statistical difference between the feeders. I got the average of seed eaten from each feeder, (the far one was 149.2, and the close one was 30.8) the difference between the averages shows that there is a large gap between the amount of seed birds ate from each feeder. When I did the T test it showed that there was a statistical difference between the two. There is always going to be variation in your results, but doing a students T test shows whether the difference in you see is natural or if it's affected by what ever it is you are testing. After I did this test I found there was a statistical difference between the amounts of seed eaten at the two feeders.

**Discusion** My hypothesis was supported by this experiment. I was surprised by how many more birds came to the far feeder than the close one. I think it's because birds feel safer close to the woods, by my house they are out in the open and are more likely to be attacked. Also it's probably farther for them to fly to the feeder by my house than the one by the woods. If I could do this experiment again I would leave my feeders up for longer and collect data about different things. For example temperature, wind, and when predators are most likely to be out.

**Bibliography** "All About Birds." //Feeder Placement, Birding Basics//. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.