The Village Naturalist

Last February I wrote about a citizen science project sponsored by the Cornell Lab. The project is called “Feeder Watch” and it consists of a number of people across the United States and Canada making observations. It started in November and came to an end on April 30. The data is being compiled, and a report will come out soon; however, since the data is uploaded by the observers each week and compiled by a computer the raw data is instantly available and here is what it looks like.

Overall, there are thousands of individuals involved in making observations, 47 of them here in Nebraska.

The data by county is not yet available but for the entire state we had 13,703 birds sighted comprised of 59 different species.

The five most common species seen on the feeders this year in Nebraska were the house finch, darkeyed junco, blue jay, downy woodpecker, and house sparrow. The next five were the cardinal, red-bellied woodpecker, gold finch, white-breasted nuthatch, and European starling.

Then you have the northern flicker, American robin, black-capped chickadee, mourning dove, and hairy woodpecker. Rounding out the Top 20 are the Eurasian collared-dove, common grackle, Harris’s sparrow, red-winged blackbird and Cooper’s hawk.

In comparing that list to my feeder, the only birds not on my list are the black-capped chickadee, Harris’ sparrow, and the Cooper’s hawk was actually in my trees hunting the birds that were utilizing my feeder.

There are those who question feeding the birds.

They feel in the long run it will be detrimental to the species if they become dependent upon feeders. They ask, “What happens to the birds if you quit feeding them or your feeder runs out of seed?”

Birds do become accustomed to a feeder, but not dependent upon it. They move around and have multiple sources of food, both natural and other people’s feeders. Cornell Lab looked at the potential effects of feeding birds. Using the data from over 30 years of “Feeder Watch” they were able to identify the most common birds that come to feeders. They then compared that list to the annual “Christmas Bird Count”.

The “Christmas Bird Count” was initiated in 1900 and it is conducted, as you would guess, just after Christmas. This is a time in which few, if any birds are migrating so we can be sure that a count at Lake McConaughy won’t include the same birds that were counted at North Platte.

The 124 years of data from the “Christmas Bird Count” allows us to identify what species are increasing in number and which one’s populations are declining. According to the Cornell Lab study, birds that are common at feeders are doing much better than those that don’t frequent feeders. Based upon the study, the Lab believes that feeders are positive things in the lives of birds.

The next citizen science project involving birds through the Cornell Lab is “Nest Watch”. If you are interested go to: https://nestwatch.org/about/overview/

20 YEARS AGO:

The fourth annual “Blowin’ the Doors Off” BBW Fund-raiser put on by the Oconto Volunteer Fire Department promises to be bigger and better. Celebrity judges are headlined by Univeristy of Nebraska at Kearney basketball coach Tom Kropp, 43rd District State Senator Deb Fischer, and UNK football coach Darrel Morris. Also judging will be radio disc jockey Adam Smith of 93.1 The River and Dave Green, owner of Grocery Kart in Broken Bow.