Ari

 Bird vs. Water Gun: Can Birds Learn Where Danger Is?

My experimental question: Can birds learn where danger is?

Method:
 * Make two platforms, one green one white.[[image:backyard_bird_pic.jpg width="448" height="314" align="right"]]
 * Put them far apart in my backyard, with birdseed on them.
 * Build a bird blind by the white one
 * Leave them both in my back yard with birdseed on them for one day (so the birds will get used to them).
 * Hide in bird blind and scare all the birds away with a water gun from the white platform for four days from 6:50-7:20 am.
 * Stop scaring the birds away, and observe for four days from 6:50-7:20 am to see if they go to the white or green more.

Hypothesis: I think birds will not go to the dangerous feeder because birds have to learn how to avoid danger in the wild, so why not now.

Type of question: Experiment

Independent variable: Danger feeder (white) vs. safe feeder (green)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Dependent variable: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Number of birds and type of birds

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">How I will measure dependent variable: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">observation of birds

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Control variable: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">safe feeder (green)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Materials: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Results: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Raw Data: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Day 1-Day 2Day 3-Day 4---
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">green and white platforms (plastic flower-pot saucers taped to cinder blocks)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">bird seed (500 ml of Scotts songbird selections multi-bird blend w/fruits and nuts and 250ml of Scotts songbird selections colorful bird blend)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">water gun!
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">recording sheet
 * || White || Green || White || Green || White || Green || White || Green ||
 * Carolina Wren || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 16 || 0 || 10 ||
 * Pigeon || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * Tufted Titmouse || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 9 || 22 || 1 || 18 ||
 * Chickadee || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 12 || 0 || 2 ||
 * Blue Jay || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 ||
 * Cardinal || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 ||
 * Dark-Eyed Junco || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 0 || 1 ||
 * Eastern Bluebird || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 ||

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> This graph shows how many birds came to the feeders each day. You may have noticed that the first two days there are hardly any birds. I had been sitting out there scaring birds for four days before, and I observed many more birds than that. The first day that I started recording, was a rainy and windy day. The next three were really cold. They four days I scared away birds were average temperature. My theory is that the birds didn't know if the feeder was there after the rain and they had to find it again. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> This is the weather during my experiment according to [|Weather Underground]. The part circled in red is when I was observing birds. The time the temperature was took is 6:51 am. The temperature is Fahrenheit. This graph shows the different kinds of birds that visited the safe feeder.* This graph shows the different kinds of birds that visited the danger feeder.*

*The birds were often the same birds visiting over and over. The Titmice and the Chickadees especially. I just counted how many times they visited. In reality there were probably four titmice. Also, some larger birds sat for a long time.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Conclusion: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> I think birds can learn where danger is. There was significantly less birds at the white feeder than the green feeder. I also think some birds are smarter, or more cautious than others. The Blue Jays, Cardinals, Juncos, and Pigeons never went to the white feeder. There were also less of these birds, and these birds are larger than the others. The Carolina Wren went to the white feeder first. They seem to be the "bravest" of the birds, always the first to try something new. The Titmice followed, flying quickly to it than flying away with there prize. Once they saw it was safe, the Chickadees started going to the white feeder to. All these birds are small and fast, so they were less afraid of the white feeder. Although, on the last day I saw a Bluebird plop down on on the white feeder and stay there for at least seven minutes. I don't think the bluebird saw me scaring the other birds away though. But all the birds always went to the white feeder only in the last fifteen minutes, after they had seen if I was lying in the shelter waiting to "eat" them. If I were to do this experiment again, I would do it for longer and also pick more equal spots for the bird feeders. The white feeder was in a slightly more open space and that may have contributed to the birds prefering the green feeder.