For my research project, I’ve started collecting data on bird species in three different areas of my backyard: the bush, the open field, and the garden area. My goal is to document the density of various bird species in each of these environments. One major difficulty has been the shorter daylight hours. With the sun rising and setting earlier, I often find I have limited time to make these observations and collect data as it is hard to do it before and after school. The shorter days affect the times I am able to observe the birds. Another struggle is I need to observe the birds at times when they are most active, which generally falls in the early morning and late afternoon which may be difficult with the amount of daylight. I’m adjusting my experiment to do observations over multiple days, focusing on 1or 2 common time slots a day that offer the best visibility and activity. Example (Monday – Friday @ 10am and 2pm) I think these modifications will enhance the reliability of my data, as spreading my observations over several days should provide a more accurate representation of bird density.
Remember that your focusing on resident birds outside the breeding season and given the time of year being close to dawn is not as key. They may be more active once it warms up so I think your time slots will be fine. Consistency is more important than the specific time.