Colin

=**Colin**=

**FRESH FRUIT VS DRIED FRUIT!**
A Northern Cardinal and a Pyrrhuloxia are attracted to an apple. © [|Joan Gellatly] .
 * Question: Do birds prefer fresh fruit or dried fruit?**


 * My Hypothesis:** I believe birds will prefer fresh fruit over dried fruit. Because in the in the natural world fresh fruit is readily available in the wild. so they will eat it first.


 * Background Research:** I read that some species of birds will only eat some parts of the fruit like the skin,or sip the juice. This makes me think that birds will prefer fresh fruit because it has more moisture. Also, birds are used to eating fresh fruit first because they eat it when it first ripens on the trees. Bird find dried fruit on the ground after it has rotted and fallen off of the trees. I think this would make it less appetizing to them. Birds will even eat fruit before it is fully ripened on the tree which makes me think they would prefer any ind of fresh fruit over dried fruit.

Bird Feeders that can hold cups of fruit and dried fruit Fresh grapes Dried raisins (all natural)
 * My Materials**:

I will put out 2 separate cups; one filled with fresh grapes and one with raisins. I will observe and measure the amounts of fruit pieces missing at 7:00 AM every day for 5 days. I counted the skins of the empty grapes each day. I will refill the cups as needed after measurements.
 * My Procedure:**


 * Dependent Variable:** the number of pieces of grapes and raisins eaten


 * Independent Variable:** the kind of fruit (fresh or dried)


 * Controlled Variable:** the location of the bird feeder


 * Results:**

On day 1 no birds came. On day 2 the birds ate 4 grapes and one raisin. Day 3 the birds ate 7 grapes and only 3 raisins. On day 4 the the birds ate 6 raisins and only 5 grapes. On day 5 only 2 grapes and 1 raisin were eaten. I discovered a huge swarm of wasps at my bird feeder.


 * Discussion:** The overall results did not surprise me. I expected that the birds would eat more grapes than raisins. However, on day 4 the birds ate more raisins than grapes. This did surprise me. On day 5, the feeder was overrun by wasps. There were probably 12 wasps surrounding the feeder and eating the food. I think the wasps scared the birds away. Interestingly, I noticed that the birds ate more and more raisins each day, but the amount of grapes consumed decreased. I wonder if the birds might have eaten more raisins as time went on if the wasps had not come to the feeder. it is also possible that racoons, squirrels and/or mice ate the fruit and not birds because birds in our yard are usually fed sunflower seeds and may not have ever eaten fruit before.

If I did this again, I should try to put the food where wasps can't get to it. I could also improve my experiment by doing it with my chickens instead of wild birds because the chickens are used to eating in the backyard and consume food very quickly so I could easily see what they prefer to eat.