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 Northern Mockingbird in San Martin, California, by FeederWatcher Joan Tisdale
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Project FeederWatch eNews
September 15, 2022
New Season Starts November 1
This year FeederWatch will begin on November 1 for the first time. We have already started shipping kits to participants who signed up by mid-August and opted to receive them. If you haven't signed up yet, join today! Remember, you don't need feeders to participate in FeederWatch, and counts without feeders are actually extremely valuable. Read more about participating without feeders on our website.
New Hawk Research Using Behavior Interactions Data
When FeederWatchers observe a predator bird catch or attempt to catch another bird, they are invited to report the observation using the Behavior Interaction form in the Your Data section of the FeederWatch website. Researchers analyzed those reports and found that Cooper's Hawks catch larger birds than Sharp-shinned Hawks, perhaps explaining how both of these hawks can coexist. Read more about this study on our website.
Volunteers Needed for New Research Project on How Birds Use Feeders
A research group at Newcastle University in England is seeking FeederWatch volunteers in the U.S. and Canada to help answer questions about foraging and hoarding (caching) behavior in chickadees and titmice. They are hoping to learn what birds do with the food items they find and how they decide whether to eat or hoard them. You may have seen this hoarding behavior first-hand, when birds move items from a food source to cache it in some moss, a tree, or even a flowerpot.
Last season some FeederWatchers helped these researchers pilot this study, collecting more than 3,000 observations of bird behavior. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped! Now the researchers are ready for a full season of data collection and are looking for more volunteers to participate.
Ideally participants need to be able to visually identify chickadee and titmouse species, but if you live in a hybrid zone for Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees, they don’t mind if you can’t tell them apart. Volunteers can take part between September 2022 and April 2023 or any shorter time frame within this period. You do not need to be an expert to get involved and they would really appreciate your support!
If you are able to report the behavior of the birds visiting a bird feeder using online forms or a mobile app and would like to help, read more about the study, see volunteer resources, and sign up on the study's website. If you have any questions, you can contact the researchers at caching.birds@newcastle.ac.uk.
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