Laura+Stamp


 * INTRODUCTION:** Recently I read, in passing, that having birdhouses in one’s backyard may impact how many species of birds visit the birdfeeders in that yard. Birds that nest in the houses become territorial and keep out other species. We have had four birdhouses in our yard for several years, as well as two feeders. We observe House Sparrows, chickadees, Mourning Doves and cardinals at the feeders on a regular basis, as well as the occasional Cooper’s Hawk that wants a sparrow meal. The thistle feeder has goldfinches every once in a while, too.


 * QUESTION:** Does having a feeder near occupied birdhouses have a limiting impact on the species that visit them?


 * HYPOTHESIS:** If I place a feeder in an area of similar foliage and groundcover but away from occupied birdhouses, a greater variety of birds will visit it.

3. Record species that visit on chart. “1” means present; “0” means not present. I chose to do this rather than count the actual number of birds because I am looking at the diversity of species, not how many actually visit.
 * ‍MATERIALS AND METHODS:**
 * Two thistle feeders
 * Thistle
 * Binoculars
 * 1) Completely fill two thistle feeders. One exists in the backyard, among flowers and next to a tree, about 3 meters from four occupied birdhouses. The other is in the front yard, among flowers and next to a tree, but away from all birdhouses.
 * 2) Observe the species that visit the feeders at two different times of day (times may change depending on when the most activity occurs).
 * Front: 6-6:20 am, 5-5:20 pm
 * Back: 6:20-6:40 am, 5:20-5:40 pm ‍

VARIABLES:
 * Independent: location of bird feeder in relation to occupied birdhouses
 * Dependent: variety of species that visit the feeder


 * RESULTS AND ANALYSIS:**
 * ** Backyard ** || Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5 || Day 6 || Day 7 || Total ||
 * House Sparrow || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 7 ||
 * Chickadee || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 4 ||
 * Goldfinch || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * Mourning Dove || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 3 ||
 * House Finch || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 5 ||


 * ** Front Yard ** || Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5 || Day 6 || Day 7 || Total ||
 * House Sparrow || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 7 ||
 * Chickadee || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 2 ||
 * Goldfinch || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * Mourning Dove || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * House Finch || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 3 ||

‍ ‍‍



The backyard feeder saw a greater variety of species visit it. House Sparrows made up 58% of the species in the front yard, while they made up only 37% of the species in the back yard, where the houses are located. Almost the same percentage of House Finches visited both feeders, but mourning doves only visited the back yard.


 * DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:**

The data does not support my hypothesis that a greater variety of species would visit the feeder that is away from the occupied birdhouses. In fact, it’s the opposite; Mourning Doves visited the feeder in the back yard but avoided the front one. I can speculate why-- the feeder in the back has a patio under part of it so the Mourning Doves can get the thistle seed on the ground. In the front yard, the feeder is above ground cover, so it’s more difficult, and probably dangerous (cats!) to get the seed that falls.

There were a couple of problems with the study. First of all, the feeder in the front yard was new, so I expected it would take a while for birds to find it. Sparrows were feeding there within one day, but other species came later. Perhaps a couple more weeks of observation and I’ll see more. Secondly, the post that I bought for the feeder was shorter than in the back yard. Because the feeder is closer to the ground, it’s almost a “cat buffet.” A trip to the store to find a longer one was futile, so I have to go searching for another pole this weekend. It would make sense to me that other birds would not visit it in the interest of staying alive! Another problem is that I limited the type of seed to thistle seed. In the winter, we also put out a squirrel-proof feeder with sunflower seeds and we have a greater variety of species in the yard. I chose to focus on the thistle seed, because in the winter, we have goldfinches that come to the yard. For some reason, they don’t visit in the summer. I even planted thistle plants, sunflowers and purple coneflowers to attract them and they still don’t come into my yard. Behind our backyard is a 14-acre park and I can see and hear the goldfinches there. I thought that maybe the reason they don’t come into the yard was because the nesting sparrows keep them out. I hoped that they would fly over the house and visit the feeder that’s right outside my dining room so I would have something nice to watch during breakfast and dinner, but so far, no visits.

I don’t think that it’s possible to draw a firm conclusion about this question based on this study. Data needs to be collected for a longer time and the feeders need to be exactly the same. I still wonder why goldfinches don’t visit my feeders in the summer; I would have to observe them and their food sources in the park to begin to investigate that question.

**Update July 21** While sitting on the patio this morning having coffee, two male goldfinches flew directly overhead, bypassing my yard and feeder. I can hear them in the trees in the front yard, too. I just don't know why they won't stop and have a bite in my yard!