 Select your FeederWatch Count Site
Place your feeder in a quiet area where
it is easy to see, convenient to refill, and where it will attract a wide variety of
birds. For more information, see Choose a Count Site,
and About Birds & Bird Feeding.
Choose your FeederWatch Count Days
If you submit data online, count you
birds once per week but your counts must be at least 5 days apart. Find out when each of your FeederWatch Count Periods begins, then plan your Count Days for the season.
Learn to identify your birds
You may find it useful to keep a field
guide on hand during your count periods. That way, if you see a bird that you can't
identify, you can quickly look it up. Bird identification help is also available online.
Visit the Lab of Ornithology's Bird of the
Week to view drawings, read descriptions, and hear the calls and songs of featured
birds.
Prepare a Tally Sheet
You'll need one Tally Sheet per Count
Period to keep a record of your sightings. Print a Tally
Sheet or photocopy the one in your Research Kit.
Count your birds
Count the number of individuals of each
species in view at one time and record this on your Tally Sheet. Update your
tallies if and when you see a larger number of individuals of a species. The number that
you report to FeederWatch is the highest number of individuals of each species that were
in view at one time. Do not add together any counts taken at different times.
Please review How
to Count, What Birds to Count, and Tricky Counts and Special Cases.
Note the weather
Record the predominant weather
conditions over the two-day count including the daylight temperature extremes, type of
precipitation (if any), and snow cover depth and patchiness.
Note the time you spent watching
your feeders
You may count for as little or as long
as you like. Just be sure to record the amount of time you spent watching birds on
your Tally Sheet.
Report Your Data to FeederWatch
You can use paper data forms to submit your
data, but since you’re already on the Internet, we encourage you to try submitting
your data online.
Enter your data promptly after your
last count. The data entry section of the web site closes down in June for maintenance and
end-of-year analysis. |
