For the past four months, bird watchers across the country have been observing the feeders in their yards and keeping a tally of the birds that stop by for a meal. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“I started watching birds when I was four years old and began to be hooked on bird watching by the time I was six years old. What was it that got me interested back at that time? It’s the same thing that I still am interested in as I watch hawks lazily migrating southward in the fall. It is that birds are a quick way to be feeling and appreciating, in a very spiritual way almost, the beauty of nature.”
John Fitzpatrick is the Director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and a participant in Cornell’s Project Feederwatch, an annual program which collects observations from volunteer bird watchers.
“I’m a professional ornithologist. I’ve been one for thirty years and yet Feederwatch has made me pay attention to the birds at my feeder in a much more careful and fun and educational way than I would have otherwise. I’m watching for example, this morning, tree sparrows and junkos and chickadees and titmice and I’m counting them and I’m realizing that last week I had more tree sparrows than I’d had the entire season up to now. So tree sparrows are beginning to bunch up into larger and larger flocks. This is something I didn’t think about until I was actually watching it in front of my eyes.”
Along with the rest of the 13,000 volunteer bird watchers who participate in Feederwatch, Dr. Fitzpatrick’s observations will contribute to a national database of bird information.
“So it gives me a chance to understand my birds in a big continental perspective.”
Additional funding for Pulse of the Planet has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.