Lillian's+Bird+Project

= __** FAR AWAY OR CLOSE? **__ =

**// QUESTION //** Are birds more attracted to bird feeders closer to a house or further away from the house?

// I came up with the question: Are birds more attracted to bird feeders closer to a house or further away from the house? I did some research to come up with a hypothesis. I learned that birds, like humans, like to eat in a safe environment. That supports my idea that the birds are going to prefer the bird feeder 9.6 meters away from the house rather than the bird feeder that is set up 60 centimeters. I also learned that birds are attracted to shiny objects. So, if you were place a shiny object on your bird feeder they would be more attracted to that. That is not part of my experiment so I didn't do that, but it is another piece of information on what attracts birds to feeders. There is also the concern that squirrels are going to eat more of the food than the birds will. Many people put squirrel protection gear on their bird feeders that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I decided not to use any of the squirrel protection gear so that could have an effect on the results of my experiment. There are many ways to attract birds to your bird feeder no matter where it is located. Here are a few helpful websites to help attract the birds: //
 * http://www.yardenvy.com/pages/attractbirdfeeders.htm
 * http://baltimorebirdclub.org/by/feed.html
 * http://www.for-the-birds.info/

**//HYPOTHESIS//** I believe that the birds will prefer the bird feeder that is 9.6 meters away from the house rather than the bird feeder that is 60 centimeters away because it is further away from the house (unless you live in a crowded neighborhood where the next house is very close to yours). It is less of a threat from the presence of humans and domestic cats/ other domestic animals that may be living in your house. Birds, like humans, like to feed in a safe environment

//** ﻿PROCEDURE FOR INVESTIGATION **// __Making the Bird Feeders__ Step 1- Get two Simply Orange (a brand of orange juice) jugs. Make sure all of the juice is washed out Step 2- Get a wooden rod that is at least 46 centimeters long and pretty thin (about the width of a pencil) Step 3- Drill a wooden hole in two sides (roughly at the same spot) of the jug. You want the hole to be about the same width as the wooden rod. Also, you want to make the holes are as far down the jug as you can get them without them running into the bump that is on the bottom of the Simply Orange jug Step 4- Cut the wooden rod so that it is 23 centimeters long (keep the other part of the rod that was cut off) Step 5- Stick the rod through the holes on both sides of the jug Step 6- Cut out a hole that is about 5 centimeters by 5 centimeters above the rod. Make sure that the bird food will not fall out Step 7- Drill a small hole through the lid of the jug Step 8- Put twine through the lid and tie a note on the bottom of the lid so that it will not fall out

__Setting Up:__ // Step 1- Get two Simply Orange jugs and make into bird feeders (See above) // // Step 2- Buy a bag of Purina Mills Wild Bird Chow // // Step 3- Fill up both bird feeders with 300 grams of //// Purina Mills Wild Bird Chow // // Step 4- Hang one of the bird feeders 60 centimeters away from house // // Step 5- Hang the other bird feeder 9.6 meters away from house //

__// Gathering Data: //__ // Step 1- Everyday weigh the bird food of both bird feeders with a scale that weighs in grams and write down the weight in two different columns (like shown below) // // Step 2- Everyday write down the weather conditions in a column (like shown below) // // Step 3- After exactly 5 days compare the collected data. The bird feeder that had the most bird seed eaten is the location that the birds prefered //

-One bag of // Purina Mills Wild Bird Chow // -Two Simply Orange (a brand of orange juice) jugs -A place to hang the bird feeder 60 centimeters away from house -A post/tree 9.6 meters away from house -Tape measure -Twine -A scale that measures in grams -Drill -Saw (hand or table) -46 centimeters long (at least) rod
 * //MATERIALS NEEDED//**

**//THE VARIABLES//** __Independent Variable:__ -The placement of the two bird feeders

__Dependent Variable:__ -The amount of bird seed eaten

__Control Variable:__ -The amount of bird seed -The brand of bird seed

 **mm/dd/yy** || Starting weight for bird feeder #1: **378.6** Starting weight for bird feeder #2: **369.4 -** -__ THE BIRDS PREFERRED THE BIRD FEEDER CLOSER TO THE HOUSE - __
 * //DATA TABLE//**
 *  **60 Centimeters Away**  **(#1)**  ||  **9.6 Meters Away**   **(#2)**   || **Weather Condition** ||  **Date**
 * 375.0 (lost 2.6 grams from original weight ) || 369.4 (lost NO grams from original weight) || Partly cloudy. 70 degrees || 11/22/10 ||
 * 373.7 (lost 4.9 grams from original weight) || 369.4 (lost NO grams from original weight) || Partly cloudy, light showers in the afternoon. 70 degrees || 11/23/10 ||
 * 371.9 (lost 6.7 grams from original weight) || 368.2 (lost 1.4 grams from original weight) || Clear skies. 60 degrees || 11/24/10 ||
 * 354.1 (lost 24.5 grams from original weight) || 369. 3 (gained a gram from condensation) || Overcast and drizzly. 50 degrees || 11/25/10 ||
 * 355.9 (gained almost 2 grams from condensation) || 380.6 (gained 11 grams from condensation) || Overcast and rainy. 50 degrees || 11/26/10 ||

//**GRAPHS**//

The numbers on the Y axis are the weight of the bird food and the numbers on the X axis are the dates (for both graphs)

It seems that the birds preferred the bird feeder that was close to the house (60 centimeters away from house). It lost a small consistent weight of about two grams each day for three days. On the fourth day it lost eighteen grams from the weight of the day before. On the last day it actually gained weight from condensation. On that day it rained pretty consistently most of the day and some of the rain got caught in the bird feeder which led it to gain weight. I also ran into this issue with the bird feeder that was further away from the house (9.6 meters away from the house). It didn't lose any weight on the first two days but on the third day it lost 1.4 grams. That was the day with clear skies and about 60 degrees. On the last two days it gained weight from condensation. The bird feeder that was 60 centimeters away was under a over hang of our house which sheltered it from the drizzle on the 25th. The bird feeder that was further away was out in the open so it gained a little bit of weight from the drizzle that day. On the last day they both gained weight from the rain. The one that was further away gained an incredible amount of 11 grams. Not many birds seemed to visit either of my bird feeders for the 5 days that I had them up. On the 27th and 28th I saw quit a few birds feed at both of them. I'm not sure if the weather affected how much the birds ate because on the 24th the weather was clear skies and about 60 degrees and the bird feeder 9.6 meters away from the house lost 1.4 grams and the bird feeder 60 centimeters away lost 1.8 grams from the weight the day before. If I were to do this experiment over again I would do it for two weeks, still measuring everyday, and I would some how shelter the bird feeders so that rain would not get caught in it and lead it to gain weight.
 * //CONCLUSION//**

http://www.yardenvy.com/pages/attractbirdfeeders.htm
 * //BIBLIOGRAPHY//**