Roya

Does the color of a bird feeder affect the amount of birdseed eaten?

**My question:** Will a red bird feeder or a black bird feeder be used more?

I believe that the color of a bird feeder will change the amount of birds that will eat from it. I believe that a more colorful or contrasting bird feeder, such as red for example, will be easier to see between green foliage and branches than a darker, non-contrasting color, such as black, and will therefore draw more attention from birds.

My variables:

 * Independent variable: Color of bird feeder
 * Dependent variable: amount of bird seed eaten
 * Control: placement, amount of seed to begin with, height, and type of bird seed

Background information:

 * According to Margaret A. Wissman, birds that are more active in the daytime have better vision, therefore can distinguish colors better. The birds have different filters in their eyes to help distinguish different colors. In the second paragraph, she says, "Birds also have brightly colored oil droplets within the eye that are involved with interpretation of color vision. It is thought that the different colored oil droplets enhance contrast by acting as in-the-eye light filters... the red oil droplet would show up more out of the green from the background, which would greatly improve the contrast between an object and trees."
 * Dr. ScienceBob says, "Ornithologists (scientists that study birds) are rather certain that most birds can see, and are attracted to, color. One reason they think this is because birds themselves are very colorful. In many species, male birds tend to be more colorful than females. This is likely because the males use their coloring to attract a mate, while female birds tend to have less coloring to provide camouflage as they protect their eggs in the nest."
 * Venice Kichura believes certain colors and types of flowers attract different birds. For example, if you want hummingbirds to hang out in your yard, plant red and orange tubular flowers. As red flowers stand among less vibrant colored ones, they attract migrating birds.

My materials:
To conduct this experiment, you will need a red bird feeder, a black bird feeder, a measuring cup, a place to write down your results, and bird seed. Also, it would be better if you found two trees with the close to the same amount of branches and leaves. It would also be helpful if the two trees were farther away than closer together. That way, the covering of the bird feeder will be the same, and it would have the difference in bird seed eaten related only to the color of the bird feeder. A problem that I had was running out of bird seed. When I went back to the store to get more bird seed, they didn't have any more of the seed that I was using. Before starting, make sure you have enough bird seed. Red bird feeder: Black bird feeder:

My procedure:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Fill up both bird feeders with the same amount of birdseed (or, in my case, four cups) and hang them on separate tree branches. Try to get the placement of the feeders around the same height and coverage of surrounding leaves. When you are doing this experiment, keep the time between filling up the bird feeder and checking measurements around the same time every day. I put my bird feeders out at 8:00 AM, and would take them out for measurements the following morning at 7:30 AM. This way, you get the maximum amount of time to see any differences between birdseed eaten. When measuring how much bird seed has been eaten, empty out one bird feeder at a time and pour the remaining birdseed into a measuring cup. Then subtract the number given from how much bird seed you originally put in the feeder. Make note every day from the beginning number to the ending number. Even if the weather is not sunny, still put the two feeders out and see how that changes your results.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Discussion:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">My results showed that more birds came to the red bird feeder, apart from Day 7. I am very happy with the results and how fast the birds came to the feeder. I learned at lot and spent my time wisely. But if I had to do this project again, I would change a few things. I would hang the feeders in a wide, open area without trees, like a field of some sort. A problem that I realized towards the end of my project is that no matter what, there aren't two exact same trees in my backyard. The height might be the same, and you could have trimmed branches to have as-close-as-possible coverage, but you can't get it exactly right. Not to mention if there were two different species of trees. So, I would have hung the feeders on some sort of pole in the middle of a field slightly close to each other. That would have gotten rid of height, species of trees, and coverage variables. It would have the difference of birdseed eaten solely down to the colors.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Conclusion:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In conclusion, my hypothesis was right. The birds preferred the red bird feeder over the black one. However, the difference in bird seed eaten was really close; but still, the birds did prefer the red bird feeder.