Join Project FeederWatch And Help The Birds
The black-capped chickadees dart between the spruce trees and the feeders, downy woodpeckers cling to the suet cages, and white-breasted nuthatches scale down the tree trunk head first. These are just some of the sights I witness every day at my bird feeders, and they fill me with delight as I look out the window. The woodpeckers even let me walk right by them on my way to the horses.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to those that know my love for animals, but feeding the wild birds is an activity I truly enjoy. Watching them interact, seeing how fast they can empty a feeder, and trying to identify every little winged-wonder passing through is a great way for me to relax.
The Project FeederWatch kit.
This year I have decided to put my bird watching to good use and signed up for Project FeederWatch, a joint program operated by Bird Studies Canada and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Project FeederWatch runs from November to April. Participants count the birds they see at their feeders (or in the vicinity) and submit observations either online or through the mail. These observations help scientists understand and track winter bird populations.
One of the great things about this program is that you can decide the amount of time you wish to commit to it. Going away for a few weeks? Not a problem. Want to watch for over an hour on your count days? Great! Only have five minutes? That’s perfect.
This program is ideal for everyone from the novice bird watcher to the experienced ones. To participate, you need to be a member of Bird Studies Canada (it cost me $35) and indicate your desire to be in the program. You will then be sent a kit with detailed instructions on the program, how to make and record observations, information on choosing feeders and seed, tips for identifying birds, and a full colour poster of the most common birds observed in your region.
I’m really excited about putting my observations to good use and helping science. If you already feed birds over the winter, or have considered setting up some feeders, please think about joining Project FeederWatch. The more participants, the better it will be for the birds!
argosgirl
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I did Feeder Watch for quite a few yrs when Bren was little. A great way to teach kids to appreciate the birds as well as ID them. Any of the projects Cornell does is so worthwhile and we had fun staring out the window all winter. It’s amazing what I’ve seen (new to me birds) over the past 10 yrs.
Cornell’s Merlin ID App is fantastic too. I’ve ID’d 3 birds this summer with it and that info goes back to them, helping track locations etc & to expand the app. Good blog as usual Argogirl!
I was pretty sure you participated in it before. Cornell is fantastic for anyone interested in birding – the website got me through a lot of bird song tests. It also helped me ID the golden-crowned kinglets that are so abundant in one of the sites I visit at work. I really need to put the Merlin app on my new phone.
Kudos to you for your continued and ongoing efforts for all things wildlife oriented. I love birds, too. I am trying to learn to identify some of Colorado’s wonderful bird world. It certainly can be fascinating.
Thanks for spreading the word about this worthy project. I have always found birds fascinating, and for years participated in Audubon counts in my region. It’s a lot of fun, and helps the cause of bird conservation.
Interesting story although I’m not a bird watcher myself, this summer my neighbors had a black rail nesting in their hay field, black rails are pretty rare around here, lots of people came to watch and listen to them
I would love to see something rare around here, but I have to settle for my downy woodpeckers 🙂 Thanks for reading!