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__Birds, Color, and Food__

Experimental Question: Will birds be more attracted to a colorful bird feeder, or a bird feeder with no color?

Hypothesis: The colorful feeder will attract more birds because a lot of birds use color to attract mates.

Independent Variable: Difference between the color in feeders.

Dependent Variable: The amount of food eaten from each feeder.

How to measure the Dependent Variable: Every morning and evening for four days I will measure the amount of bird feed in each feeder by volume. I will also keep track of the weather conditions and anything else that may effect the amount of birds eating at the feeders.

Controle Variables: In each feeder the bird feed will be the same, and the placement of the bird feeders will stay the same during the experiment. The feeders will be in a wooded area but with some space between them.

Materials Needed: Two bird feeders (one colorful) Black sunflower bird feed

How to Conduct Study: Two bird feeders will be put in more or less the same environment with about two feet between them. One of the feeders will be colored with either bright pink duck-tape, the second feeder is clear and will have no added color. During the week I will measure the amount of feed eaten from each every day, morning and evening, I will also take a picture each time I check the feeder.

Results: After the four days of having the two bird feeders out, the non-colorful had more bird feed eaten then the colorful feeder did. Before I started my experiment I thought that the colorful feeder would attract more birds because many birds use color to attract mates, however I didn't think about how birds may be attracted to more natural looking feeders when it involves their food. After the four days about an inch and a half of food had been eaten from the color feeder, and there was about two and a half, or three inches of food gone from the non-colored feeder.

The feeders on the first day.

Color feeder on the second day. Non-colored feeder on the second day. Color feeder on the third day. Non-color feeder on the third day. Color feeder on the forth day. Non-color feeder on the third day.

Data Table.

Graph.