Dear Readers, you might remember that a few years ago, I was performing an experiment on my local magpies for my Open University degree. On that occasion, I was trying to determine if they preferred red or yellow doughballs, and the answer was a resounding ‘yes!’ to the red ones. This year, I’m hoping to see if the birds have a preference for orange balls over yellow ones and I suspect that the outcome might not be quite so straightforward.
This year I used my brain and used my food processor to make the dough – it’s a lot quicker than messing about rubbing the lard into the flour and then trying to get an even colouration. But the real test will be whether the magpies are as enthusiastic as they were last time, or if anybody else will get stuck in.
What we’re trying to distinguish is whether the birds are taking the balls purely based on their colour, or if they’re just taking the ones that are commonest. So, to start off with we do ten trials with 45 orange balls and 5 yellow ones, and then ten trials with 45 yellow balls and 5 orange ones. To make it all even more complicated, we have to record the trial when there are between 15 and 35 balls left, so you have to keep an eye on what’s going on. Last time the magpies were so fast that they’d scoff the whole lot in ten minutes, so woebetide somebody coming to the door or ringing me up mid experiment. If there are fewer than 15 balls left you have to start the whole thing all over again. Sigh.
Once all the trials are done, you do some antsy-fancy statistical work, to try to prove that your results are not random, and then I need to write a report. All by 10th February! But I’m not complaining. Sciencing is one of my very favourite things to do, and it certainly keeps me busy!
Stop Press One
I put the doughballs out on Tuesday, and not a single one was eaten on by Thursday morning. Then I went to see the podiatrist on Thursday morning and the whole lot had gone when I came back. Hopefully the magpies have rediscovered them, and things should run smoothly from now. Fingers crossed….
Ugh! This often happens when I place something unusual on the feeding table: not a bird pays it any attention. Let me go indoors to make tea … and it’s all gone!