Cole

=**My question: Does the presence of my cat near the feeders affect bird seed eaten?**=

I will keep my cat inside during the day for five days, and measure the seed eaten each day. The next week I will let my cat out and measure seed eaten then. In the continental United States up to 3.7 billion birds are killed by cats every year as of January 2013. These numbers are much higher than anything estimated before, and the amount of birds killed by cats far outweighs birds killed by human effects, like cars, wind turbines, or habitat loss. In a recent attempt to count the number of cats that actively hunt in the U.S. it was discovered that roughly 100 million cats are hunters in the United States, which includes both feral and domestic cats. In the U.S. there are estimated to be around 10-20 billion birds as of 2011. The spread of these numbers indicates that it is very difficult to find an accurate number.

My hypothesis is that the birds will eat less during the week my cat is outside, because cats are a natural predator of small birds. With a predator beneath the feeders, the birds and squirrels will be more cautious, but also it make take them some time to realize the cat is gone.

The variables in my experiment are: DV: Birds and squirrels, who are the ones eating the feed. IV: My cat, who will be kept inside one week and let outside the other. CV: The three feeders will be in the same place each day, and filled to the top at 6:00 each morning. There are some variables I cannot control, and which are not part of my experiment. The weather conditions and temperature, presence of human made disturbances, and presence of stray cats near my feeders.

Materials included: Three feeders of varying sizes, shapes and colors. The feeders are all close together, but at different heights. The feeders are referenced to in the data as red, green, and cage. The green one is considerably larger, the red one quite small. The cage is right in the middle, and has a large, spherical, metal cage around it, which kept out squirrels, but possibly also larger bird specie s. I used sunflower seed, due to the fact that my birds love it. My cat, who was let out or kept in.

My daily procedure looked like this: 6:00 fill three feeders to top, hang in yard. 7:25 let cat out / keep cat in 6:00 - 6:30 check feeders, document amount eaten.

My data did not support my conclusion, as almost 1,000 more cubic cm. was eaten with the cat outside.

Week One (October 7-11) : This week a total of 4,499 cubic cm. was eaten out of the three feeders. These were the five days were my cat stayed inside. During these days the weather stayed in the low 70's to mid 50's, and was always cloudy, with a little rain. On day two, 10/8, very little seed was eaten out of the red and cage feeder.

Week Two (October 12-16) : During this time a total 5,251.1 cubic cm. was eaten. This was the week were my cat was let out. The weather stayed in the high 60's to mid 50's and was cloudy again. On the eighth day of my research, 10/14, my cat was let in from noon to 6:30 due to rain.

|| Day One No Cat || Day Two #|No Cat || Day Three No Cat || Day Four No Cat || Day Five No Cat || Total amount eaten No Cat || Day Six Cat || Day Seven Cat || Day Eight Cat || Day Nine Cat || Day Ten Cat || Total amount eaten Cat || 507.9 cubic cm || 127 cubic cm. || 54.5 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 90 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 563.5 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 254 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 838 cubic cm || 834.4 cubic cm || 109 cubic cm || 109 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 146 cubic cm || 218 cubic cm || 728 cubic cm || 72.1 cubic cm || 218 cubic cm || 327.7 cubic cm || 314.3 cubic cm || 218 cubic cm || 1,150.1 cubic cm ||
 * Feeder
 * Red Feeder
 * Cage Feeder
 * Green Feeder 1,124.7 cubic cm || 434 cubic cm || 434 cubic cm || 762 cubic cm || 870 cubic cm || 707.5 cubic cm || 3,207.5 cubic cm || 434 cubic cm || 544 cubic cm || 870 cubic cm || 653 cubic cm || 762 cubic cm || 3,263 cubic cm ||
 * All 3 Feeders 2,467 cubic cm || 670 cubic cm || 597.5 cubic cm || 1,054 cubic cm || 1,106 cubic cm || 1,071.5 cubic cm || 4,499 cubic cm || 652.1 cubic cm || 908 cubic cm || 1,551.7 cubic cm || 1,113.3 cubic cm || 1,126 cubic cm || 5,251.1 cubic cm ||

In conclusion I observed that my feeders are visited regularly and frequently, and that the birds have preferences regarding feeders. The data did not support my hypothesis and I have some possible reasons for this. The first reason is that the feeders are not usually filled on such a regular basis, and the birds may have been more used to the feeders always being full by the second week. Also the first week had generally worse weather, which may have prompted birds to visit the feeders less. I noticed that the green feeder always had more feed eaten out of it than the other two by percentage.

Bibliography LaCapra, VÃ©ronique. "Killer Kitties? Cats Kill Billions Of Creatures Every Year." //NPR //. NPR, 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.

Kevin Drum. "How Many Birds." //Mother Jones //. Kevin Drum, 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 04 Nov. 2013 