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Unit 18: Biology Part 1 Page 50 of 60

2. Set up posters in a variety of colors, each with some birdseed in front
of it to attract birds.
3. Spend some time watching the area and see which colors birds tend to
go to, and if there is a difference between species.
4. Record your results

What’s Happening: Birds respond to color based on their lifestyles. For

example, hummingbirds are attracted to red and yellow because these are
the colors of the flowers from which they drink nectar.
Activity: Birdfeeder Science

Some birds only eat one type of food. Some will eat several types of food,
but most do have a preference. Given the choice of insects or seeds, which

do you think most birds would select? Your answer to this question is called
a hypothesis. You can test your hypothesis with a simple experiment.
1. Set up two containers – one with insects and one with birdseed. You
can try several types of insects (in different experiments) typically

available at pet shops.
2. Set up a video camera to record birds that come to visit your bird
feeder. Try to get as long a video as possible.
3. Watch the video, and observe how many birds eat insects and how
many eat seeds. Also observe what the birds that eat each type of
food look like. Depending on the area in which you live, you may have
long periods without birds, which is why watching on video, when you
can fast forward, is a better idea than sitting and watching your
birdfeeder.

4. Record which type of food was more popular. Also see if you can
identify the birds you attracted. Were there certain species that liked
one type of food over the other?

What’s Happening: Your results will depend largely on what birds live in the
area where you live. Hopefully, you will be able to find and identify both
insect- and seed-eating birds.

Activity: A Dog’s Life

Want to study an animal but don’t feel like going outside? If you have dogs
as pets, you have built-in subjects. Good experiments have one variable, or
change. So, you might want to get two dogs that are the same age but
different breeds. Or perhaps two dogs of the same breed but different ages.

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