Ongoing Field Observations

I will be studying Manitoba birds such as Robins, Black cap chickadees and blue jays. I plan to study how the presence of dogs in backyards in urban locations influence bird behavior, specifically the abundance of birds when dogs are present and absent. I will be studying this in my backyard in Manitoba, Canada.

Field Journal Observations:

Locations in the Backyard

Diversity of Birds log book

Location 1 (North): Large Maple trees with the left tree having a simple bird house. To the left of the Maple trees are 2 large coniferous trees that are currently reproducing lots of pollen and the female cones at the top of the trees are large and scales look slightly open.

Observations: I discovered a nest of 5 newborn blackcap chickadees in the bird box on the left maple tree. Chickadees and house sparrows sit on the branches on these trees. When dogs are present they sit in the tree or go into the birdhouse.

Location 2 (South): a tree line with assorted trees and lilac bushes in between. 

Observations: I noticed some blue jays on a fence post behind the trees. Typically they only stay on the fence for 1 minute or less. Constant movement in the trees from various birds. I noticed dead carasses of mice and other small animals dropped along the tree line most likely from larger more predatory birds. This is typically where the dogs seem to spend most of their time.

Location 3 (East): Lilac bushes on the east side of the yard. The lilacs are in full bloom. Large amount of grass in front of the bushes.

Observations:I noticed lots of robin activity. They are most active after a rain searching for worms on the grass. Often they land on the grass here even when dogs are present but when the dogs come closer they fly away.

Hypothesis: The presence of dogs in urban backyards will cause bird abundance to change.

Prediction: I predict that bird abundance will decrease when dogs are present in the backyard. The underlying pattern might be that birds might view dogs as predators and reduce the time spent feeding and spending time in the backyard, not allowing a great diversity of birds.

A potential response variable is the amount of time the birds spend in the yard with dogs present and absent. This is a Continuous variable as we are tracking a value of time spent.

A potential explanatory variable is the presence or absence of the dogs in the yard. This is a categorical variable as its either Yes the dogs are present or No they are not present. Unfortunately I am unable to do a control group as well which would help further the research and to have a group to compare against.