Science Smarts: What makes a good feeder and what helps them attract birds?

By Patty Rooks on February 22, 2025.

With the warmer weather arriving this week, I am seeing quite a bit more wildlife in my backyard. Many of my friends have a variety of birdfeeders out so they can sit and enjoy watching all of the birds eating away. I asked one of my friends, which of their bird feeders was most popular, and they could not tell me. Of course, I had to figure this out before I put some feeders up in my year. Let’s get started!

*Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

• Red paint (spray, tempura, whatever you have handy)

• Blue paint

• Yellow paint

• White paint

• Exacto knife

• String

• Five clear empty water bottles (all the same size).

• Five sticks

• Scissors

• Bird seed

• Backyard

• Science notebook

• Pencil

Procedure

1. In order to see which colour the birds prefer, we have to paint the bottles, BUT only halfway from the top.

2. Paint one bottle white, bottle two yellow, bottle three blue and the fourth bottle red. Leave one bottle unpainted as this will be your CONTROL variable.

3. Have an adult help you poke a hole in the lid and attach a string to each lid so you can hang the bird feeders up.

4. An adult will have to help you cut a circle (so the birds can eat) about three quarters of the way down each bottle. It does not have to be perfect, just big enough so the birds can get the seeds out. Repeat for each bottle.

5. Below the hole in the bottle for the seed, poke a hole large enough to push the stick in – all the way through and out the other side. Again, an adult will have to help you so you do not cut yourself. This is the perch for the bird to sit on so they can eat their seeds.

6. Fill the feeders with birdseed and hang the birdfeeders up throughout the backyard.

7. Find a place far enough away from each feeder, but close enough so you can make some OBSERVATIONS.

8. In your science notebook take a count of how many birds feed from each feeder for 15 minutes. Repeat this several times so you get accurate results.

What is going on?

You should have observed that different birds are attracted to different colours pretty much all of the time. For instance, the sparrows always went to the yellow feeder. What I did observe is that birds NEVER went to the white feeder. In researching this, I found that white is a warning colour and they tend to avoid it. It is also believed that birds are attracted to the feeders with colours that are similar to their feathers. What did you observe?

Registration is now open for the Regional Science Fair on March 22. It is going to be a great day as we are celebrating our 50th anniversary!! To register, visit: https://www.online-registration-system.com/ab/seab/

Patty Rooks, senior scientific consultant PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community.” Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook. Address: 12 826 11th Street SE, Medicine Hat, AB, T1A 1T7 Phone: 403-527-5365, email: praxis@praxismh.ca.

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