Holidays are a time of reflection. I have a reflection and question to
share.
Does anyone know of studies where data have been analyzed to show daily
patterns of bird visitations at feeders?
I can envision a graph of birds seen over time, but on a micro-scale- maybe
a month of records with dates down the vertical and hours at the top.
Most of the recorded emphasis is on occurrence of birds by month by
generalized location (e.g., county/state/hotspot etc.), but no indications
are made of the time of day.
I am curious about why birds are active at certain times of day. I know
during the warmer months, birds are most active near sunrise and sunset, but
winter seems totally different.
For example:
I normally have coffee and do some reading in the morning for about an hour
around first light. That is when I mostly record my feeder birds. Lately I
see few birds until later than usual. By the time they start showing up, I
get busy doing other things. Today I had the best activity between 3 and 4
pm. It was still light but no birds after that. I suspect (which means I
made a hypothesis) they were "hunkering down" for the night. This seems
"standard" now.
Lately I have been recording exact times for when I see birds at the
feeders. My observations vary widely depending on my own activities, but it
seems mid-morning (hypothesis: it warms up enough to make feeding productive
enough to spend the energy) is active. Then there is a lull (why - birdie
naps?). Then - like today - activity in the 3-4 pm timeframe (for me it's
cookies and milk - not seeds and suet - before bedtime. Were the birds
hunkering down?).
I can envision someone somewhere keeping records of all birds seen through
the day with time stamps, then plotting daily activity in a graphical
format. Whew, what an effort! Yet for someone who has their computer or
craft table (or whatever activity suits them) near a feeder view, it would
not be a huge effort. Kind of like the hawk watch guys who spend all day
just watching birds. (Though I wonder if even they time-stamp sightings .)
Hey! For you guys who sit at home (like me mostly) in winter it might be a
fun activity and might really produce some interesting data.
Any answers on posted analysis of past data? Any "takers" to record and
time-stamp sightings going forward?
In the 3-4 pm hour today I put together a great Polish sausage, asparagus
and potato dinner and saw:
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 1
American Tree Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
House Finch 4
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 8
House Sparrow 4
Compare with morning coffee (8:15-9:15 am)
Mourning Dove 34
Blue Jay 3
Tufted Titmouse 1
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 6
House Sparrow 10
And with lunch at 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 2
American Tree Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 5
Interestingly the e-mails generated by eBird - from which I copied the above
lists - did not time-stamp my observations. But I would not really expect
them to do so at this point. After all, they are working on a national
scale, and just expanded to allow global entries I think, so it is currently
beyond their capacity. (Nor should they be concerned!)
I was just thinking about this question tonight and want to know if anyone
knows of any studies that talk about when birds are most active feeding in
the winter. Then why do they do so? So many questions!
BTW, my most exciting observations today were the American Tree Sparrow who
might be becoming a regular (I hope) and only my second sighting of a Pine
Siskin this season.
Comments? What patterns do YOU see at your feeders?
And . Happy Holidays to all in my extended birding family! It means SO much
for me to be part of your family! May your new year be feathered, fluffed,
flighty, fulfilled and fantastic!
"Dr. Bob" Setzer
Streamwood Estates, Rochester Hills (Crooks & Hamlin), Oakland County
"Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day." Teaching a man to "bird"
is much harder!
Blog: <http://drbobsbirdblog.blogspot.com/>
http://drbobsbirdblog.blogspot.com/
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