Data Entry Contest: Tell us why you like to FeederWatch!
For the eighth season in a row, Project FeederWatch and our sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited are rewarding registered FeederWatchers with the chance to win prizes. Celestron has joined the fun by offering one pair of binoculars to each data entry contest winner as well. After entering counts into the FeederWatch website, on the submission confirmation page, participants have the opportunity to share a story, memory, or tip by clicking the “Enter to Win” button. We randomly select two winners per prompt. Our second Data Entry contest prompt this season was:
Tell us why you like to FeederWatch. If this is your first time FeederWatching, what drew you to it?
Congratulations to our winners, Rosemary Hill and Tracy Stone!
Rosemary shared:
I retired in early Fall. After a period of much needed rest, joining FeederWatch was an easy way for me to begin committing to new activities. This activity has helped me reconnect to my backyard in a way that is both nurturing to the plants, animals, and to myself. It’s an activity that is focused and yet relaxing. I’m learning which birds are more permanent visitors and which are just passing through. It was just by chance that I was standing at my kitchen window when the Cedar Waxwings blessed me with a visit. I’m realizing how much passes us by during our working years.
Project FeederWatch is a fantastic way to learn more about birds and fuel a fun, new bird-watching hobby. The FeederWatch website has a host of free resources, including our Common Feeder Birds Interactive page. This tool lists almost 100 common bird species that come to feeders across North America. You can use it to find out what birds are most commonly found in your region, as well as what bird food and feeder they best prefer.
Tracy shared:
I like Project FeederWatch because it has helped me slow down and appreciate the natural world around me. This is my third season participating. I love grabbing a cup of hot tea on a cold winter day and curling up on the couch to watch my feeders. It is also a great way to get volunteer hours in for my Master Naturalist program during the colder months when there are less projects to participate in. I mostly participate by myself, but my husband has recently taken up an interest in counting as well. I love being able to share this activity with him.
Participating in Project FeederWatch is a great way to spend the winter – you can watch birds from the comfort of your home, and you don’t even need a feeder to participate! If you haven’t already, you can sign up to participate at any time. If you want to share Project FeederWatch with your friends and loved ones like Tracy, there is also an option to give a gift of membership on our Join or Renew page.
Thanks to everyone who participated and shared their stories for this prompt – 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 13th, 2024.
Interested in becoming a FeederWatcher? Join the fun now!
9 comments on “Data Entry Contest: Tell us why you like to FeederWatch!”
I feed my backyard birds in the St Louis area and also work part-time at a local Nature center for the Missouri Department of Conservation. I always enjoy seeing what shows up but seldom have anything “unusual” other than the pass-through migrants.
There is nothing more satisfying then to see my feeder filled with activity. The reward of the elusive cardinals feeding each other makes me hold my breath. To watch the black capped chickadees flit and chase off the blue Jay’s or starlings is comedic. There is no Netflix series that can compare.
Both my Wife and I watch the 4 Shepherds poles with 8 Feeders on them.
It attracts a wide variety of ground birds to about everything else.
We love Recording them as well as taking Photos of them. Then our Second House out in Fort Garland, Colorado has a different variety of birds that seem to visit the Feeders and both have Bird Baths so they have water.
Colorado is very Dry so the Birds Need the Water.
And the Mammals that eat up the seed on the ground, as well as use the Bird Bath for water.
My feeder provides my live company.
I get about 10 different kinds.
I feed them before I get my breakfast and watch them and read.
Wish I had a feeder to watch. I visit other, Tacoma area feeders. It keeps me alive and the feeders help the birds survive in this “Climate Change” crisis.
My dad started feeding Birds when I was 17 so having a bird feeder in the front yard is so enjoyable slowing down on life and just sitting and relaxing and watching the birds eat it’s nice now that my dad is nothing it’s something that I can enjoy while I remember him
Ya’ll
A newbie to FeederWatch, I’ve been fascinated with birds since my Aunt Gwyneth gave me a pair of 7×35’s and a Peterson Field Guide to the Birds way back in Connecticut in the 60’s. Now, retired with the wife of my youth on 40 acres of prime, peaceful pastureland in rural South Carolina, I provide habitat, build cypress and cedar (juniper) nestboxes and feeders, and immerse my soul in Nature.
Of all God’s creatures, I love the birds the most; they’re bright and full of life; they bring pure joy, which is a step above happiness; they lift one’s spirits. Now, with some time on my hands, albeit a bit late in the season (and life), I want to help them out with FeederWatch.
I figure I owe it to them.
Roger T
My husband and I have been counting for Project Feeder Watch for 17 years, We count each Friday and Saturday November to the end of April Over the years we have identified 81 species. We drink our coffee and watch them come in large numbers. I suppose we feed about 150 birds a day. Because we have a warm water basin we really enjoy watching the different species and how they drink. Funny thing is, the doves love it so much, they sit there for hours keeping warm. Then they poop in the water, so it keeps me busy changing and sterilizing the water basin about 4 times a day. We are 84 and 87 years old and the birding life we have experienced has been the top travelling times of our life. All of north america including two trips to Alaska and all of Central America. Ireland, Scotland and Portugal. Happiness to us is always the birds on our large property and beside the river.
I would like to know, on these beautiful hummingbird feeders, they have a yellow be guard I have read or bees and wops are attracted to yellow, could you help me with that. Thank you