Wilton 7th Grader Wins Cornell University Birdsleuth Challenge

Do birds prefer music? New Canaan Country School seventh grade science student Jane Walsh undertook a month-long experiment in 2018 to find out. Under the guidance of her then sixth grade science teacher, Margaret Mackey, Jane designed an experiment to objectively determine whether or not birds preferred a feeder with music playing (selecting Ludwig van Beethoven’s No. 9 in D minor) or instead, visit a feeder with no music at all. Her hypothesis was that birds would prefer silence and be scared away by music.

Using research skills acquired in class, she conducted her study of the birds frequenting her Wilton, CT backyard feeder. To her surprise, she discovered that by a small margin, birds preferred the feeder that had music playing as opposed to the feeder where no music was playing. This was especially true of the Dark-eyed Junco species.

Assisted by Ms. Mackey, Jane submitted her experiment to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology to be considered for inclusion in their annual publication, Birdsleuth Investigator.

“We were really impressed with the creativity of Jane’s discussion,” said Kelly Schaeffer, director of Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s K-12 program, which publishes experiments from students around the country. “Not only did she conduct a fair experiment to test her question, Jane provided thought-provoking discussion about her results and what other factors could have influenced the data collected. We’re excited to share Jane’s investigation with other students and inspire the next batch of feeder investigations.”

Of the experiments Cornell’s K-12 program received, Jane’s earned top honors and will be featured as the grand-prize winner in the next issue of Birdsleuth Investigator Magazine. Now a seventh grader, Jane is proud of her accomplishment.

“I took a risk investigating the effect of music on feeding habits and it paid off,” said Jane, who can identify all the birds in her neighborhood. “It’s amazing that something I did by myself in my backyard is being read by people all over the country.”

“The goal of any inquiry-based project is to develop independence, close observation and time management,” says Ms. Mackey. “At every step, the students are real scientists, right until the point of publishing their findings in a scientific journal.”

“Jane has sparked an interest in others,” says Ms. Mackey. “Now students want to expand upon her idea and do experiments with different kinds of sounds and music. Good science always begs new questions.”

New Canaan Country School is a co-ed, independent day school for students in Pre-K (ages 3 and 4) through Grade 9. Located on 75- acres in New Canaan, CT. For more information about the school or its science program, please visit: www.countryschool.net.