Dr. Bob's question took me back to the summer of 1974 when I did my 8 week stint at Cranberry Lake Biological Station in the Adirondack's of New York. I was a student at The State Univ of NY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, studying to become a wildlife biologist. During our second '4-week semester' (July) I took a field ornithology class. One of my fellow students spent most of those 4 weeks sitting at Whoosh Pond - a beaver pond surrounded by a wet meadow and bordered by hardwoods and conifers. The fellow was watching warblers fly between the woods and the open meadow around Whoosh Pond (I don't know what kind of warblers - I was new to this birding thing). At the end of the session he reported to the class on the movements of those birds throughout the day from first light to dark. I was amazed that there was a definite pattern to their movements. I did not think about it then (or is it that I can't remember??) but they were probably feeding their young on the abundance of insects that were found in that wet meadow which was an all day job. I would love to log the comings-and-goings of our feeder birds but the mortgage calls (I owe, I owe, so off to work I go). I hope someone has had the time to do so and I look forward to their response. Happy Holidays, Matt Valencic Chagrin Falls, OH From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Setzer Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 6:16 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [Ohio-birds] Holiday Greetings! And a question: What about daily patterns at bird feeders? 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/ ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3329 - Release Date: 12/21/10 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. 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