Bird Lab Report

Meagan Tracy, Morgon Lee, Megan Rivera 3/21/03
801 Earth Science

Bird Behavior Lab Report


Abstract: Our exit project is about bird behavior we are also observing how birds act in different temperatures and around other birds. We are making a Data table of the time, date, temperature, location, how many birds we see and birds, and the bird’s characteristics. We will also be taking pictures of the birds and seeing what types of birds we see in different parks.

Background: `

Research Paper

The most common duck on the eastern coast and in New York City is the mallard ducks. There very small in size, male and female. All of the mallard ducks will travel in packs clear or sunny weather. In rainy weather, they tend not to be outside. In snowy weather they like communicate with each other.
The male ducks are still considered small to humans, but to ducks there the head man in charge in the duck world. Many male mallard ducks have very wide feet. To attract different female mallard ducks, the males scatter there feathers so they could look wild and spiky. Most of the male mallard ducks have green feathered chest. Sometimes the rest if the body would be solid gray or solid brown, or gray and brown.
The female mallard ducks could long necks or have no neck or that’s how it would seem. For Females, they would have purple feather for there chest. Mating wise, mallard duck relationships don’t last long because in the summer many male mallard ducks surround the female duck and the male father figure duck leaves and the baby duck is usually raised without a father. This cycle happens over and over.
Referring to behavior, mallard ducks are the fewest ducks the do communicate with other ducks. Many other ducks do not communicate with each other. Mallard ducks mostly communicate in the morning when there waking up. Also when other ducks come on there territory, they associate with each other.
Many Mallards and other fowls have territory defenses. Most fowls just have speed to get away or hide. Those were the defenses the mallard duck has. But, the mallard duck can stay underwater for ten minutes or more. This usually doesn’t stop its predators.
Almost all eastern coast ducks including mallard ducks are seasonal ducks. They have appropriate times when and when not to come out. Most fowls come out in the summer. Also, in the spring because this is when they could show off there feathers. Also, if they were to come out in the winter, many of them will die off.


Hypothesis:
Morgon’s – Many birds change in different climates and around other birds. I feel when birds are together, they tend to stick together. Also, when there is snow the birds fly in circles. When it is clear and sunny. They behave with a lot of energy and communication. When it is windy many birds are not outside.

Megan R - I think because of the different changes in temperature different bird’s change in looks and in n.y.c. I think when the weather changes birds change.

Meagan t’s - My hypothesis is when it is really cold and windy outside you will not see as many birds. When birds are not in a pack or with other birds they are more shy and will fly away from you. When birds are in a pack they tend to be friendlier.

Materials:
Camera, books, computer, video camera, central park, Morningside Park, Prospect Park, and Binoculars

Procedure:
1. Go to central park , Morning side park and Prospect park
2. In the park we will take at least an hour walk , near wooded areas and open fields
3. Then we will observe birds that are in those parks during different dates
4. We will take down notes about the specific birds we’ve seen.
5. Then we will observe the birds behavior
6. We will see how the birds interact with each other.
7. Document different birds, around different climates of certain months(Jan-March)


8. Take down a data table that describes different characteristics of the birds.
9. Observe different types of birds
10. With the information we’ve collected from our data table, we start to research.
11. After researching about the different birds we’ve documented we would start to prove the weather on that particular day. Using cameras, and sketching.
12. With the research we collect on the birds we documented we would try to answer our question how do birds behave during different temperatures and how do they act around other birds?
13. We would go back to the park to retrieve more information about the birds we saw
14. With all the research and documentation we would be able to draw a conclusion.
15. Then we will see if our hypothesis was right.

Experiment: Our experiment is to observe birds in different temperatures and the way they behave around other birds. We are also seeing the birds at different parks and recording the time/hour, date, temperature, how many birds we see, location and different characteristics of the birds.


Data chart:
Time /hour Date Temperature How many birds we see Location Different characteristics
1-3 2/10/07 30 5 Prospect park I see some mallard ducks
1-3 2/11/07 34 8 Prospect park Laying on grass in the sun
1-3 2/15/07 35 11 Prospect park Quacking
1-3 2/ 17/07 38 15 Prospect park On grass in sun
1-3 2/19/07 39 clear sky 16 Prospect park Mallard swimming
2-3 2/ 23/07 30 6 Prospect park Mallards swimming in packs
1-2 2/24/07 32 clear sky 7 Prospect park Mallards looking for food
1-2 2/28/07 33 8 Prospect Flying in air
3: 55 2/17 /07 34 5 Morning side park I see some fox sparrows sitting up in a tree
3: 59 2/ 20/07 38 10 Morning side park There are song sparrows eating bird food
4: 13 2//26 /07 39 13 Morning side park There are Lincoln sparrows sitting on a tree and a few seagulls
4: 28 3/ 8/07 42 16 Morning side park I see swamp sparrows and pigeons fling in circles
3: 45 3/ 14 /07 36 7 Morning side park There are white throated sparrows and seagulls flying
4: 39 3 /19/07 34 5 Morning side park I see a white crowned sparrows and pigeons walking on the ground
3: 43 3/ 20 /07 43 15 Morning side park There are some pigeons and sparrows flying around
4: 18 3/ 21/07 39 11 Morning side park I see one blue jay and a few sparrows
4: 24 2/18 /07 26 3 Central park I see a blue jay and some pigeons in front of the park
4: 48 2/ 21 /07 28 5 Central park There is a fox sparrow sitting on a tree
3: 19 2/ 25 /07 29 6 Central park I see a song sparrow walking on the grass
3: 37 2/ 28 /07 33 6 Central park There are some pigeons sitting on top of a bench
4: 13 3/5/07 36 8 Central park I see a red cardinal eating bird seeds
4:00 3/ 10 /07 40 11 Central park There are some wood ducks swimming in a meadow
3: 27 3/ 17 /07 44 13 Central park I see a rusty blackbird flying from branch to branch
3: 44 3/ 23/07 46 14 Central park I see a sparrows flying in circles


Analyze Results: From going to certain parks we have learned that birds are friendlier when they are together. We have also learned that you see more birds when the weather is nice and when it is windy, raining, or snowing you see less birds.

Conclusion: All of our hypothesis is correct and we all think that more birds are outside when the weather is nice. When the weather is windy or raining or snowing we see less birds outside. We have also learned that birds are not as shy when they are in a pack together.

sparrow

sparrow

Our groups data

Day time tempature observation How many birds I saw Location
3/3/07 2:30 45 sunny I saw many pigeons an sparrows flying around and talking to each other 15 Morning side park 118th morning side avenue
3/5/07 3:00 36 a little flurries I see many segals flying in a circle 3 106 and Amsterdam avenue

Plan for this week

1.On wednesday me and megan went to morining side park located on 118 th street morning side avenue .We had bird seeds and we waited to see what birds came,then we took pictures of blue jays but we also saw sparrows and segals around that area but segals and sparrows don't migrate so we did not take pictures of them but we did take pictures of the blue jay .

2. For today and tommrow if we see any birds that mirgate we will take pictures of them and morgon will also be going to diffrent parks and see what birds are there .

3. Once we have gathered enough information that we will be around tuesday or wednesday of next week we will make a chart to express how many birds of a specific species we see by hour, date , weather and diffrent characteristics .

4. By thursday and friday the group will have a chart and we will be doing reasearch on each bird we've seen and doucumented and also finding out those birds migratory pattern .

What's Happening

Well Our group is doing a exit project on birds our question is to see What months birds migrate in nyc .We have decided to change our first quesion a little bit beacuse it would be more of a research based experiment so this project is fieldwork and a little of a research project . So knowing that , each of my group members including me will be having a diffrent type of bird to observe to see what months they migrate. So we will be taking pics , video taping , and making Data tables .

Hypothesis:
I think because of the different drops and change in climate different birds change and take flight to different areas. In New York City I think some birds migrate to hotter areas in the wintertime like geese, and in the spring and summer I think that all the birds that had migrated in the winter migrate back. I think that because in the wintertime in New York it can be bitter and cold, and different cold fronts come during the wintertime. So birds change, food becomes scarce and warmth and shelter is harder to find because the treetops have no leaves and everything including the atmosphere just changes. Then in the spring and summer time I believe that the birds migrate back because the trees become filled with leaves, and because of the wet season there are more bugs and nourishment for birds to eat, shelter and warmth is all around and the atmosphere is able to be dealt with easier.

MATERIALS:
Camera, Video Camera, Blogger, Computer, Research, Paper, Pen,Books, different things.


LINKS:
http://www.nycaudubon.org/home/

http://www.wcs.org/international/northamerica/birdmonitoring

http://www.birding.com/wheretobird/NewYork.asp

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1169/is_1999_Feb-March/ai_53939199

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/birds/index.html?query=MIGRATION&field=des&match=exact