October 15, 2001

Which Kind of Suet do Birds Visiting Our Feeder Prefer? by Samantha & Breeanne

The Adaptations Birds Use to Fly by Rachel

On Which Side of My House Will Birds Prefer to Feed From? by Lydia

Classroom Birdfeeder Cam by Twyla, Scott & Matt

Poetry

As I Look Up in the Sky  by Amber

Birds Birds Birds!  by Lily

Birds At Our Feeder  by Suren

Art / Photographs

Varied Thrush by Tallon

Brown-Headed Cowbird by Benjamin

Carolina Wren by Sue

Fancy Finch imaginary bird  by Madeline

Rachel's Bird Feeder by Rachel

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As I look Up in the Sky
By Amber, Grade 7
S.Gordon Stewart Middle School
Ft. Defiance, VA
Ms. Gatewood

As I look up in the sky, I see colorful birds flying high
Birds are bright and beautiful - they really brighten the sky
That's what makes them so beautiful like a special spring surprise
Their wings like silk, their beaks like shiny smooth stones
Some fly together, but some fly alone
Birds hop from tree to tree to build a different nest
To see which one they will like the best
Next time when you look up in the sky
Watch the beautiful birds that live in the sky so high 

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Birds Birds Birds!
By Lily, Grade 6
Ardmore Ave. Elementary School
Ms. Morett
Lansdowne, PA

Birds soar in the air,
Flap their wings without a care.
Catch the food such as seeds,
Eating is one of their needs.
Birds come to their nest,
Feed one baby, then the rest.
They don't have skins but have many a feather,
That help them in different weather.

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Brown-Headed Cowbird
Benjamin, Grade 3
Preston Elementary School
Preston, MD
Ms. Arbogast

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Birds At Our Feeder
By Suren, Grade 5
Upper Elementary School
Plainsboro, NJ
Ms. Foster

Usually at the bird feeder,
Two birds come above the rest,
The Mourning Dove and European Starling,
And sometimes the Blue Jay drops in.
While the American Crow flies in to feast,
Rarely do a White-throated Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco
Come to splash in our bird bath.
These are the birds at our feeder,
Who next will get their share of the feeder?

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On Which Side of My House Will Birds Prefer to Feed From?
By Lydia, Grade 4
Robert Frost School
Silverton, OR
Ms. Rindy

Introduction

This last winter break, my family moved to an old farmhouse which used to belong to my great grandmother. I received a bird feeder for Christmas. I decided to test on which side of the house the birds would prefer to feed from. 

Hypothesis 

My hypothesis is that birds will prefer to feed at the south side of the house because there are more bushes and trees.

Materials and Methods

We made four bird feeders out of milk jugs. We cut two holes in each one. The following day, we hung the feeders on trees to the north, south, east and west sides of our house. I filled each feeder with one cup of seed. I checked the feeders every day to see which ones were empty.

Results

On the fifth day, all the feeders were empty. I filled the feeders again and after five more days, the feeders were all empty again. The feeders kept becoming empty every five days after I filled them.

Conclusions

I learned that it does not matter where I place bird feeders around my house because the birds don't like one side of the house better than another. Now I know that I can place my bird feeder anywhere around my house.

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Classroom Birdfeeder Cam
By Twyla, Scott & Matt, Grade 5
Nassau Spakenkill School
Poughkeepsie, NY
Mrs. Vitek

We have our own website that features our bird feeding station. When you first look at our website you will see a live picture of the feeding station. If you go on our website you can check out all of the birds that come to the feeders and you can find out about the research we did for our science fair. Keep checking for new information on our website. The address is http://www.dcboces.org/sufsd/nassau/vitek.

We have lots of feeders at our birdfeeding station. One of the feeders we have is a house feeder. We also have a ground feeder, a dome feeder, a tube feeder, a platform feeder, and a hopper feeder. We have three posts, two of which are connected with a perching line. On the third post we have squirrel feeders. We placed field corn in the squirrel feeders, but it hasn't kept the squirrels away from the bird feeders. We have enjoyed the different kinds of feeders that we have received as donations.

We use many different types of seed and other food at our station. We use seeds including safflower, thistle, sunflower, hemp, and a mix. Some other foods we use are corn, peanuts, mealworms, suet, and fruit. We also received donations of organic birdseed including sunflower, hemp, safflower, corn and peanuts. When warm weather comes we will put out a hummingbird feeder with nectar. 

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Which Kind of Suet do Birds Visiting Our Feeders Prefer?
Samantha & Breeanne, Grade 4
Port Edwards Elementary School
Port Edwards, WI
Ms. Welniak

We wanted to find out what kind of suet birds visiting our feeders would prefer. To do so, we put out different kinds of suet, one which was a high-energy suet with seeds, and the other was beef fat from the grocery store. We weighed the suet and placed an equal amount in each of the two suet feeders. After two weeks, we weighed the suet to see how much was left over. We found that there was less beef suet left over. From these results, we concluded that the birds visiting our feeders preferred the beef fat over the high-energy suet with seeds.

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The Adaptations Birds Use to Fly
By Rachel, Grade 7
Minnehaha Academy Middle School
Minneapolis, MN
Mrs. Humason

Have you ever wondered why you can't fly? Or, maybe you've wondered why birds can fly. There are a couple of adaptations birds have in order to make flight possible for them. One characteristic that helps birds fly is their weight; birds are very light. Birds are light because they have hollow bones, light jaws, no teeth and their reproductive organs shrink when it's not breeding season. Now for another question - why do birds have feathers? Feathers are the lightest natural insulating material, helping to keep the bird's weight to a minimum.

Flight is also easier for birds because they have a very flexible neck. Birds have seven more vertebrae than humans. They also have hearts that beat much faster than ours.This helps them to go long distances without getting tired. Another characteristic that makes flying easy for birds is their flexible tail.

Bibliography
1. First Field Guide to Birds, National Audubon Society, Scholastic Inc. 1998.

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