Feederwatch

Birds are flocking to the feeders in my backyard.  As soon as the temperatures started to dip, perhaps because day light hours are shortening, the feeders empty in less than a day.  Bird watching, as a recreational activity, is considered to be among the top favorites of people around the U.S.  We can learn a lot about birds and our backyard habitats from daily observation of the birds in our neighborhoods.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is part of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, whose mission is “to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education and citizen science focused on birds.”  This non-profit organization, along with Birds Canada, gathers data through citizen science programs.  These are opportunities for scientists, students and the general public to participate in collecting data about the birds in their own backyards. 

Collected data is compiled and made available to anyone who wants to use it.  Conservationists have gained protection for various bird species in serious decline; scientists are learning about migration routes and what resources birds need and use along the way; and population sizes and health can be monitored in near real-time across the entire North American continent.  Basic maps, trend graphs and summarized data by state as well as local region are displayed and downloadable.  Interactive maps that combine monitoring data with satellite images from NASA are educational and simply fun to watch.

Articles for backyard birders on feeder types, preferred food for specific bird species, keeping a healthy environment, and landscaping to attract birds are waiting for you to peruse.  These offer how-to information, including resources, for setting up your own backyard bird feeding and monitoring area.  If you want to look outside your own backyard, searching the internet for more projects reveals opportunities for observing and recording data concerning nesting, bird-building collisions, and migration and data for specific families, such as hawks.  Birding hotspots in DuPage County include Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Waterfall Glen south of Darien, Cantigny Gardens in Wheaton, Greene Valley Forest Preserve in Naperville.

A specific project that I am involved in is Cornell’s FeederWatch program, a survey of birds visiting my backyard habitat between November and April.  Observation is for two consecutive days each week, and data is recorded concerning species identification, how many individual birds are in each sighting, what types of food and feeders are in use, and daily weather conditions.  I use my own checklist, shown below, to keep track of my observations and enter the data  online on Cornell’s website.  If you are interested in joining the 120,000+ citizen scientists for birds, visit the following sites for more information:

Cornell ProjectFeederwatch	Project overview, data collection, history, staff, links to more information
Cornell Home Page	Mission, what we are about, staff, news
eBird	Cornell’s online database of bird observations
Tally Sheet	Sample tally sheet

My Backyard Birds Checklist

Note that there may be other birds that you see in your own backyards especially if you are close to a prairie or forest or any type of habitat different than my own

From Date:_____________	Start Time: ________________	End Time: ___________________
To Date: _______________	Start Time: ________________	End Time: ___________________

General Weather (temp, wind, rainfall/snowfall inches)                                                                                                                 .

Common	Scientific	Count	Notes
Belted Kingfisher	Megaceryle alcyon
Blue Jay	Cyanocitta cristata
Canada Goose	Branta canadensis
Chickadee, Black-capped	Parus atricapillus
Common Grackle	Quiscalus quiscula
Finch, American Goldfinch	Carduelis tristis
Finch, House	Carpodacus mexicanus
Finch, Purple	Carpodacus purpureus
Junco, Dark-eyed	Junco hyemalis
European Starling	Sturnus vulgaris
Hawk, Cooper’s	Accipiter cooperii
Hawk, Red-tailed	Buteo jamaicensis
Hawk, Sharp-shinned	Accipiter striatus
Mallard	Anas platyrhynchos
Mourning Dove	Zenaida macroura
Northern Cardinal	Cardinalis cardinalis
Nuthatch, Red-breasted	Sitta canadensis
Nuthatch, White-breasted	Sitta carolinensis
Owl, Great Horned	Bubo virginianus
Sparrow, American Tree	Spizella arborea
Sparrow, House	Passer domesticus
Woodpecker, Downy	Picoides pubescens
Woodpecker, Hairy	Picoides villosus
Woodpecker, Red-bellied	Melanerpes carolinus

Other:  Behavior interactions (displacement or predation), Eye disease notes