Volume 42, Number 2,
February 1996:
Backyard Birds

Text-only version

ISSUE HOME PAGE

ABOUT THIS ISSUE
- about KSN
- about the author

IN THIS ISSUE
- introduction
- what do you need to go birding?
- some common backyard birds
- house finch
- American robin
- house wren
- European starling
- house sparrow
- black-capped chickadee
- northern cardinal
- ruby-throated hummingbird
- blue jay
- gray catbird
- purple martin
- downy woodpecker
- eastern bluebird
- Baltimore oriole
- American goldfinch
- the Kansas winter bird feeder survey
- acknowledgment
- owls

SLIDESHOW
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Backyard Birds
by Marvin Schwilling

The Kansas Winter Bird Feeder Survey
The Kansas Winter Bird Feeder survey is a cooperative effort between the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and the Kansas Ornithological Society to census birds at feeders throughout Kansas during the winter. The data are gathered by hundreds of volunteers, who watch their feeders and count birds on two of four designated days in their backyards at their feeders in January of each year. The survey started in January of 1988 and the ninth annual survey was done January 11 through 14 of 1996.

Besides the volunteers who collect the data the survey involves several students and faculty, who enter the data into a computer data base and analyze the data. During the first three years of the survey, Dr. John M. Briggs, who represented the Kansas Ornithological Society, from Kansas State University and his student, Cornell Kinderknecht developed the protocol for collecting the data and entering it into the data base. The survey data base summary and entry was moved to Emporia State University for the January 1991 and subsequent surveys. Under my supervision, several graduate students, including: Deana Podrebarac, Jill Gregory, Dave Ganey and Katie McGrath, have been involved in the data entry and analysis. Thus, the survey not only provides us information about wintering birds at feeders, but also some valuable experience for students in data entry and analysis.

The data has been used in several different studies including a presentation by Charles Nilon, John M. Briggs and Cornell Kinderknecht at 50th Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference where they analyzed data from the first year. They had 1200 usable surveys during the year and found that 101 of the 105 counties of Kansas were represented in the survey and the data was reliable for trend analysis with easily recognized species that are commonly at feeders.

When you exam the rankings of the top 10 species over the last five years you see a consistency among most of the species. The house sparrow has been number one during the entire time period. The coefficient of variation (C.V.), which measures the variation of the rankings relative to the mean ranking over the five years is relatively low for the house sparrow, blue jay and black-capped chickadee. One species that does not follow the consistent trend is the house finch, which made the top ten list for the first time in 1991 and has climbed to third. It has a high coefficient of variation, i.e., 53.5%. The pine siskin, which is highly variable in abundance within the state of Kansas only made the list one of the five years as did the mourning dove. Most of the species in the top ten list are readily recognizable by even the inexperienced birder.

In summary, the winter bird feeder survey has provided long term trend data for birds wintering in Kansas that visit our backyard feeders. It has provided valuable data for analysis by students and has provided hundreds of hours of excitement for thousands of volunteers, who feed birds.

Next: Acknowledgment