sophia

Question :
What kind of feeder do the birds left in NC in late October prefer ?

Research :
To form my hypothesis, I needed to know more about finches. I did research on finches. I needed to find out if finches were migratory or not so i would know what to expect, since many birds that eat from the feeders in the summer are finches. I found that while not all are, many types of finches are migratory.

Hypothesis :
I think that less will be eaten out of the thistle feeder because in the summer most of the birds that eat out of the thistle feeder are finches and since many finches are migratory there won't be as many birds around to eat out of the thistle feeder.

Procedure :
Hang two feeders of different varieties ( one tray feeder and one thistle feeder ) in similar places ( both hanging on the side of a house ). Every day for five days in a row fill the feeders with the same kind and amount of food (a mixed bird seed and six cups of it) and at around the same time every day for five consequtive days measure the remaining food in a measuring cup and refill feeders.

Materials :
1 thistle feeder 1 tray feeder measuring cup(2 cup) measuring cup(1 cup) measuring cup(8 cup ladel <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">mixed bird seed

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Results :

 * || Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5 ||
 * Thistle || 0 || 1/8 || 0 || 3/8 || 3/8 ||
 * Tray || 1/4 || 1/4 || 0 || 1/4 || 1/2 ||

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Conclusion :
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My hypothesis was supported. I have not changed my mind about it being because there aren't as many finches around. I didn't have a problem with squirrels. they tried pretty hard to get to the feeders but because of the way the house was shaped they couldn't get to them. One problem I did run into was that the feeders were kind of close to each other so sometimes birds who were eating out of different feeders would chase each other off. another problem was that it was raining all day on day three, but those were my only problems.