Project FeederWatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch at my feeder

November marks the start of another count season for a citizen science monitoring program called Project FeederWatch. This program collects data from citizen observations recorded at bird feeding sites across the country and has amassed important information in the past 38 years. For instance according to its website:

The massive amounts of data collected by FeederWatchers across the continent help scientists understand

• Long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance

• The timing and extent of winter irruptions of winter finches and other species.

• Expansions or contractions in the winter ranges of feeder birds

• The kinds of foods and environmental factors that attract birds

• How disease is spread among birds that visit feeders

If you like to feed birds and want to participate in furthering knowledge on winter bird use at backyard feeders, Project FeederWatch is a great way to engage.

Project FeederWatch turns your love of feeding birds into scientific discoveries. FeederWatch is a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. While most people focus on birds coming to bird feeding stations, you don’t even need a feeder! All you need is an area from which you like to watch birds. Plus, the schedule is completely flexible: you can count every week or once all winter, for as much or as little time as you like.

I started participating in FeederWatch when I moved into my present house 37 years ago. Some of the winter highlights have been:

37 Northern Cardinals seen at one time in the early morning hours in Jan. 2022.

Some of the 62 Common Redpolls observed on a Jan. day in 2009

In January of 2009, I have a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker overwintering at my suet feeder.

At the end of each season count, Project FeederWatch publishes a ranking of the most observed species in each region. Minnesota is in the Central region and our top ten species are as shown:

All of these species are pretty regular at my house except for the House Sparrow, fortunately.

Dark-eyed Juncos are more common in late fall and early spring - I don’t see as many in the dead of winter.

Dark-eyed Juncos can have different coloring depending on their location. In early November, I had an “Oregon” subspecies of Junco (above) mixed in with the more common “slate-colored” subspecies of eastern US (below).

With the advent of personal computers and mobile apps, FeederWatch has made it easy to record and explore observations. On this page there is extensive data to explore if interested in a bird species or trends:

Explore FeederWatch

If you are interested in turning your backyard bird-feeding into science collection, a season of Project FeederWatch might be worth a try.

Blue Jays and Red-bellied Woodpeckers like the hopper feeder especially when there are peanuts in the mix.