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STUDENTS: Ethan Sanner
DESCRIPTION: This poster details my experiment on the relationship between the beak size and the preferred feed of Pennsylvania winter birds
FACULTY ADVISOR: Caporaletti
VIDEO PRESENTATION: Link
21-022-Preferential Feeding of Southeastern Pennsylvania Winter Birds
Hi Ethan,
Good to know that you are going to keep studying this subject with the very interesting major you’ve chosen. I guess, if it is not a matter of survival, that birds, regardless of beak size, will prefer the low energy-use route in their eating choices. When I put out peanuts in my birdfeeder, , the bluejays and the small woodpecker will appear. Otherwise morning doves and cardinals are the bigger birds that arrive for all types of food. Perhaps, for a future experiment, the bowl of larger seeds might be larger than the bowl containing smaller seeds, to test whether easier availability comes into the energy calculation, although large birds are in a position to scare away the smaller birds from the smaller feed supply. Since sunflower seed has to be broken into, would a different result occur with peanuts, for example? It’s certainly a challenge to conduct outdoor experiments, with the observational time that it takes and the changing weather conditions. That the starlings didn’t chose only the smaller seed seems surprising.Perhaps it would be good to say what the magnitude of small beaks vs. big beaks comes down to. Thanks very much for presenting this. .