Project Feeder Watch

This weekend started my latest season of Project Feeder Watch. I joined the project not long after it's beginning and have been doing it every year. It is a citizen-based scientific research project started by Cornell University 22 years ago. Basically, the people from Cornell invite average-Joe citizens to collect data from their backyards and send the data back to them to study population changes in bird species over the years. It has also become important in finding out new information about the individual bird species. Some populations have decreased in an area, while other species have expanded their range in the last 22 years. Without the gathering of this data, none of this knowledge would have been possible.

The basic concept is to count the highest numbers of any species of bird that you see at your feeders at one time. For example, if you see two Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) at the feeder at the same time, you would put down a count of "2" on your list. If another cardinal comes later, you don't add that one to the count and don't change the count because it's not higher than the original "2". But if the third cardinal arrives while the other two are still feeding, then your count changes to "3". It's not hard for the average person without a science degree to acomplish. All ones needs to know is how to identify a particular bird species and be able to count them. Once you have counted for two consecutive days, you are finished until your next count period.

I really enjoy collecting the data each year because it gives me a chance to contribute to science since my job has nothing at all to do with my degree. Besides, I just like watching birds! I had a pretty good start for this season. Two Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cistata) and two Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) visited my feeders during the course of the weekend. Based on my past observations, these two species don't visit in pairs until later in the season. What does this bode for this year's season? Stay tuned!

This weekend also saw the cleaning out of the garden debris. Dad pulled up the okra stalks Friday evening (It took a shovel to pry them out!), and I pulled out the peppers and cut down the beans on Saturday afternoon. Mom helped me with the tangle of bean vines that had amassed on the trellis we had built. The only items left in the beds are cabbage and collards. After they are gone, we will put lime in the beds and start to prepare them for the next growing season.

Have a blessed day!