Did everyone see the announcement about Project Wildbird in their Wild Birds Unlimited newsletter? Somehow I missed it and a friend from church showed it to me.
Project Wildbird is a study being done on feed and feeder preferences of wild birds, both in the U.S. and Canada. Apparently this study started 3 years ago and will end this December. It is being conducted by graduate student Stacey Shonkwiler and Dr. David Horn, assistant professor of biology at Millikin University (Decatur, IL). And it is being funded by the Wild Bird Feeding Industry (WBFI) Research Foundation.
Anyone in the U.S. or Canada who feeds wild birds is asked to participate in this online survey located at http://www.projectwildbird.org/. Dr. Horn says, "The questionnaire asks people about why they feed wild birds, the challenges they face, and what will make the bird feeding experience better for them."
The reason behind this project is to see if there are feeder and seed preferences according to one's geographic region and the season of the year. The survey should take about 15 minutes (but it took me about 30 minutes) and can be accomplished by going online to the link above or by calling 1-866-WILDBIRD.
4 comments:
Interesting topic for a research project. I put out seeds in feeders only during winter, when food is scarce. Sometimes I feel wrong in feeding wildlife, other times I figure, what the heck. Then again, many, many birds come to my yard because of the plants that are growing here.
I'll check it out. I think the most challenging thing about bird feeding right now, is the price of seeds. The bag of sunflower seeds that I always buy has gone up by ten dollars a bag since last year. I used to buy other types of seeds, but have limited myself to just sunflower and nyjer for now.
I'll check it out too. So cool, I feed them to supplement what they cannot find in nature due to construction, plus I love to watch them.
Zhakee, I would imagine you would have more than birds around your home if you fed them all year long. Raccoons, bears, deer, etc. Now I don't know if that's good or bad. Didn't you post on your blog about an experience with raccoons? Besides, you probably already have quite a bit of wildlife around you most of the year, don't you?
Jan and Darla - I hope you do check it out. It's fairly simple to do. Jan, I agree with you about the cost of bird seed lately. But then again, everything else costs more nowadays. I guess we have to be more frugal with everything anymore. Darla, I love watching the birds in my yard, too. They also provide entertainment for our indoor kitties/cats. So providing seed for them is something I find important enough to spend money on. But I don't necessarily spend a lot -- I only have to buy seed about every 6-8 weeks.
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