Bird Board
Entomologist Seeking Photos of Birds Eating Insects
Posted by Brian Rapoza
over 8 years ago
2 Comments
An article in the current issue of Bird Watcher's Digest led me to a website for an interesting citizen science project created by a University of Delaware entomologist. The goal of the "What Do Birds Eat?" project is to determine which insects are most important to the diets of terrestrial bird species. Birders can assist the project by contributing photos they've taken of birds with insects in their bills. I've added a page for this project to the TAS citizen science pages; a link is below.
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I sent 23 photos to help...had a variety of birds-eating-bugs photos - palm, prairie, pine, worm-eating, black-and-white, and yellow-throated warblers, blue headed and white eyed vireo, downy and red-bellied woodpecker, tree swallow, merlin and kestrel, red-winged blackbird, yellowlegs, green heron, blue grey gnatcatcher, summer tanager, purple martin, common yellowthroat, and European starling. I don't know all the bug species they are eating in all cases, but they are entomologists, so they should be able to figure it out! Lots of caterpillars and larvae, dragonflies, and spiders.
Fantastic, Justin!
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