January 10, 2023
| Black-capped Chickadee by Candace Trost |
For the seventh season in a row, Project FeederWatch and our sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited are rewarding registered FeederWatchers with the chance to win prizes. This year, Celestron is joining the fun and offering one pair of binoculars to each data entry contest winner as well. After entering bird counts (data) into the FeederWatch website, participants have the opportunity to share a story, memory, or tip by clicking the “Enter to Win” button on the Count Summary page. We randomly select two winners per prompt. Our second Data Entry contest prompt this season was:
What’s your favorite bird to see at your feeders? Do you wait all season for a glimpse of it, or does it come every day? Share with us what makes that species so special to see at your feeders!
Congratulations to our winners, Kristi Bathgate and Therese Walsh!
Kristi shared:
I enjoy when Black-capped Chickadees visit my feeders. Their petite size and coloring make them adorable. And I am fascinated by their one-seed-at-a-time feeding method. They grab a seed, fly to a nearby lilac tree, hold a seed with their foot, and peck to open. Once, a chickadee dropped the seed, flew to the ground, found it, and went back up in the tree to finish opening and eating it.
Black-capped Chickadees are one of the most common feeder birds and the easiest to attract to feeders, as they enjoy a diversity of food and tend to be quite curious. They will often hide food to save for later and cache seeds in several different spots; Black-capped Chickadees can remember thousands of hiding places. Check out Cornell’s All About Birds to explore “cool facts,” life histories, identification help, and more about Black-capped Chickadees and other bird species.
Therese shared:
The bird I most look forward to seeing in the winter months is the Red-bellied Woodpecker. We are charmed by their duck-and-weave neck movements, their deep-throated call, and the fact that they bow to no one at the feeder; even the Blue Jays hightail it out of there when the Red-bellied Woodpeckers arrive. They adore peanuts in the winter, and oranges in the warmer months.
Red-bellied Woodpeckers may come to feeder setups within their eastern U.S. range that offer peanuts, fruit, safflower, suet, cracked corn, mealworms, and more. They have also been known to feed on berry trees such as hawthorn or mountain-ash. Find out more about what Red-bellied Woodpeckers and other bird species like to eat by using Project FeederWatch’s Common Feeder Birds Interactive tool.
Thanks to everyone who participated and shared their stories – we wish we could share all of your submissions! Read the stories from past winners on our blog. Email feederwatch@cornell.edu with questions. Stay tuned for when we announce our next data entry contest winners on February 14th, 2023.
Interested in becoming a FeederWatcher? Join the fun now!
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