Battling Birds

About Battling Birds

Throughout the year we operate several bird feeder cameras spread in various locales, and we're interested in going beyond simply counting birds at feeders. We want to try and understand more about the behavior of the birds that visit—a task that video is uniquely suited for. More specifically we want to answer the question, How does diversity (number of species) and abundance (number of individuals) affect behavioral interactions (specifically displacements) at a feeder? With your help, we can better understand the social dynamics at a bird feeder as well as how these dynamics may shift when conditions change (e.g. weather).

This Zooniverse project seeks to leverage the interest we've seen from viewers watching our Bird Cams to participate more in sharing what they see and learning about the birds they're seeing on-screen. This means that while we there is a main research question, that doesn't mean other questions can't be answered! This project can be shaped by you, the community. Be sure to participate in the Talk forums, especially the Wonder Board, to let us know what questions and potential future investigations you find intriguing.

We also invite you to learn more about the larger project that Battling Birds is a part of--Bird Cams Lab. Bird Cams Lab is a project that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is co-developing with viewers. Click here to join in and help us test new activities for co-created research investigations.