Courtesy of Kim Caruso/Project FeederWatch

Project FeederWatch invites participants across North America to count birds and submit findings for use by scientists.

October 30, 2024

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Prepares for Project FeederWatch

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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is gearing up for Project FeederWatch, an annual project inviting participants in the United States and Canada to observe and report bird species. This year’s season will begin on Nov. 1 and will continue through April 30. During this period, thousands of FeederWatchers across North America will count birds and submit their findings to the FeederWatch database. 

FeederWatch data is used to understand several different aspects of winter birds, such as climate change impacts and bird distribution, population shifts and diseases. FeederWatchers can even report aspects of bird behavior, such as displacement — when one bird attempts to take the spot of another bird at a feeder — one of the most interesting areas of research, according to Anne Marie Johnson, FeederWatch project assistant at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Supported by a National Science Foundation grant, FeederWatch has expanded its scope to include reports on mammals, sick birds and participants’ responses to birdwatching experiences. 

“We are trying to accomplish several things with these new data,” said the Cornell Lab’s project leader Emma Greig in an Oct. 17 press release. “If participants see sick birds or a predation event, for example, how does it change how they feel overall about birds and bird feeding? We are also trying to understand if seeing squirrels, deer or other mammals affects human behavior or changes the way people feel about offering supplementary food to birds.”  

Anyone in the United States or Canada can join FeederWatch by signing up online. Participants then choose “count days” throughout the season to observe and report the highest number of each bird species seen at one time. Count days refer to two consecutive days of observing, which participants can take at any time throughout the FeederWatch season.

Participants must follow explicit instructions for what to count, when to count and how to count to maintain the scientific reliability of the data. All counts, regardless of size, help researchers detect changes in bird populations, identify trends and monitor bird health nationwide. 

“Participants often think that we only want to hear from people seeing lots of birds, but that’s not true,” Johnson wrote in an email statement to The Sun. “The only way we learn where birds are missing is if people who don’t see any or many birds send us those observations.”

Additionally, for many participants, FeederWatch is a meaningful way to connect with nature while also helping preserve it. 

“Joining FeederWatch not only helps science but lets you learn way more about birds that you see all the time by really watching their behavior and habits,” wrote FeederWatch participant Brian Hofstetter ’26 in an email to The Sun. “I feel that watching birds brings me a lot of joy and also fascination with the natural world.”

Although FeederWatch is dedicated to collecting scientific data, the project also emphasizes enhancing participants’ relationships with the environment.

“FeederWatch’s greatest contribution to conservation is in the improved connection to nature that participants gain,” Johnson said. 

Bhavya Anoop can be reached at [email protected].