Let’s Talk Emotions!
November 27, 2023
Project FeederWatch adds the option to submit data on your emotions to study human-bird relationships.
By Christy Pototsky, Virginia Tech
![](https://feederwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Blog_DISES_Emotions_Birds_blog_11-2023.png)
This season 80% of Project FeederWatch participants are participating in new optional aspects of Project FeederWatch data collection. Along with recording types of mammals seen during a count, specific signs of disease in birds, bird mortality during counts, management activities conducted at a site, participants can now report on the emotions they experience while observing birds. These changes make Project FeederWatch one of the first participatory science projects to bring together social (human) and ecological (bird, mammal, and disease) data. Reporting on emotional data is rare in participatory science, especially in the context of bird observation, so let’s talk about what this kind of information can tell us. First, a question to kick off our conversation:
What is your most memorable experience of wildlife?
Perhaps it was the first time you saw a clutch of eggs in a nest box. Or perhaps you witnessed a battle between a bald eagle and an osprey. Or a black bear “visiting” your bird feeders!
Think about your memorable moment and how you responded. Do words like excitement, surprise, happiness, sadness, anger, or fear come to mind? The answer to this question is probably “yes,” because it is these kinds of emotional reactions that infuse our everyday experiences with meaning. Emotions play a critical role in memory and are probably the most basic human response to animals.
From an evolutionary perspective, emotions help us react to our environment and improve our chances of survival. Because of this mechanism, humans have a strong predisposition to react emotionally to animals. For example, when we see a bear, we feel afraid and our bodies prepare for ‘fight-or-flight’—our hearts start pounding and we breathe more rapidly. Not only does emotion influence how we interpret experiences with wildlife, but it also can change our behavior. In our brain, emotions interact with our thoughts to help us make decisions. So, once we feel fear in response to a bear, we might choose to back away rather than move closer. Thank goodness for emotion!
Beyond a single moment in time, the quality (negative to positive) and intensity (low to high) of an emotion indicates the presence of an experience that may have an impact—positive or negative, strong or weak—on our overall well-being. With all these processes in mind, if we want to better understand relationships between humans and birds, it is important to consider the role of emotion.
![](https://feederwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Blog_DISES_Emotions_Mammals_blog_11-2023.png)
Scientists have systematically studied emotions for a long time. In fact, Charles Darwin published his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in 1872! Just like animal behavior, components of human behavior, like emotion, can be studied scientifically. Luckily, we can even directly ask other human beings about these components. That is where FeederWatchers come in!
![](https://feederwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Blog_DISES_Emotions_LastScreen_blog_11-2023.png)
In the updated Project FeederWatch data entry system, participants can now report on the emotions they experience while observing birds and other animals at their count site. If participants opt into reporting emotions, they can click on one or more of the emoticons listed in each section of their count summary (total bird species, symptoms of disease reported, bird deaths reported, total behavioral interactions), ranging from angry to surprised to neutral to happy. Participants are also asked about the overall quality (unpleasant to pleasant) and intensity (relaxed to excited) of their emotional experience during their count.
Reporting these emotions are optional, but we hope FeederWatchers will enjoy the experience of a new kind of data collection! We also hope that this research can be used to support the well-being of birds and people!
21 replies on “Let’s Talk Emotions!”
I really don’t like the new data entry for feederwatch this year. It is entirely too cumbersome, and I really don’t feel like clicking emoticons. It would be helpful if we had the option to revert back to previous year’s form.
Hello, thank you for reaching out. Feel free to email us at [email protected] with this, and we would be happy to help.
The emotions question feels like it lacks integrity and will lead to a lot of fake good news. Especially as it has no option to input that counting birds is science and has nothing to do with feelings It detracts from the actual citizen data project.
Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for writing to us about the emotional data that is new to Feederwatch: we agree it is something unusual for our program! Emotions are a different type of data than objective observations of the birds and mammals of your count site. Emotional data is much more subjective (perhaps by definition!) and requires the skill sets of social scientists to be able to analyze and interpret correctly. However, it is certainly still meaningful data, and social science is a rigorous scientific field, even though the approaches are different than those used in ecological fields. So worry not, the data that are submitted about peoples feelings will be analyzed in just as methodical and conservative a manner as the bird data are analyzed, and are just as valuable. But you are certainly correct that it is quite a different thing to incorporate into FeederWatch! Thank you again for writing and we hope you enjoy the season.
I don’t mind doing surveys about feederwatch, but the survey about my “emotions” were a big turn off to me. I thought it would be something more useful than that and I felt like it was a complete waste of time and no article is going to convince me otherwise.
Hi Sharon,
Thank you for writing to us about the emotional data that is new to Feederwatch: we agree it is something unusual for our program! Emotions are a different type of data than objective observations of the birds and mammals of your count site. Emotional data is much more subjective (perhaps by definition!) and requires the skill sets of social scientists to be able to analyze and interpret correctly. However, it is certainly still meaningful data, and social science is a rigorous scientific field, even though the approaches are different than those used in ecological fields. So worry not, the data that are submitted about peoples feelings will be analyzed in just as methodical and conservative a manner as the bird data are analyzed, and are just as valuable. But you are certainly correct that it is quite a different thing to incorporate into FeederWatch! Thank you again for writing and we hope you enjoy the season.
I agree with Sergeant Zeno, way too cumbersome and when I initially agreed to report additional aspects I thought I saw that I could undo some of that. I have looked and don’t find a way. Also confusing: Did I make changes to my site — yes, I clean my feeders, but that’s lumped in with changing amounts of food and other yes/no. If I skip answering some of these additional items I’m told I must click something before I can submit. I’d like to just add mammal counts, NONE of the other new things.
Also, when I change bird sort to Taxa, I have to do that again each week. Sort order should “stick.”
I don’t mind recording emotions, if it adds to how humans do interact with birds and wildlife then maybe it may help with conservation. I do think though this is the kind of information that is recorded and often you don’t realize how relevant it is or can be until you get a good base of response from participants. I am glad I can put in different emotions, as I was doing only the 🙁 when the cats showed up or a neutral. Reading the email from Bird Studies Canada helped me understand what is required. Although, I am not horrified when the hawks show up, as I love seeing how nature plays out. What I do miss is the Shrike that used to be here… that makes me sad, very sad. As he lost his territory just south of me to development. Plus those were the days when I would get huge flocks of Gold Finches, 80 birds. None of that happens anymore.v 🙁
I sat through the orientation session and must have not been paying attention. My FeederWatch App is the same as it was previous years. I see none of the additional functionality demonstrated in the orientation session and discussed here/above.
Hello Stephen. For now, our new data entry options are only available when you enter data online on our website. Our app is currently under construction, and our tech team is working hard to fix up our app. We apologize for the inconvenience.
I’m new this yr to the bird counting and am learning a lot, however, since I’ve never looked that close at birds, it is taking quite a while for me to learn which specific sparrow, or wren, etc. I am seeing. To me previously, they were just little birds. Your poster & using my bird ID books is helpful but it’s a challenge to find the correct name. I’ve now found that I ID’d some birds incorrectly. Is there a way to go back, say for at least the prior week, to make any corrections?
Hi,
I don’t want to second-guess anyone, but this collecting of emotions seems simplistic. For instance, all I have had so far this year have been Blue jays and Northern juncos. I am happy to see so many juncos, but unhappy that I have seen none of the usual chickadees and nuthatches present. Your questions, it seems to me, lack nuance.
I have been answering all the emotions questions as neutral.
I too have been baffled, frustrated and confused with this new ‘system’, especially the ’emotional’ questions.
I have difficulty understanding what point ‘they’ are trying to establish.
For me it is just such a privilege to be able to live in nature and observe. There is no ‘sad’ or other measurements of how I feel. Whether I have lots of birds or not, whether they fight or not, if a bird or mammal dies, is injured, loses a ‘fight’ this is just part of nature.
So I am just ‘happy, excited…..whatever’ to be alive and able to witness whatever is happening. It is all just part of life’s cycle. (More sad is what humans do and are doing to each other!)
I agree with all the above messages. (I have been doing ‘feederwatch’ since almost the beginning – 30 years or so.)
Unfortunately, I have to say that I agree with many previous respondents, that though I signed up to record emotions, I find it overly simplistic and annoying. So I just entered my data without answering the questions about emotions.
Until this year, I enjoyed reporting at least 2 times a week through the season. This year I’ve reported twice. The new format is cumbersome. The emoji reporting is trite and tedious. This has removed all the joy of this activity for me. It’s so much easier and more satidfying to continue with my private, paper journal.
I would echo the negative emotional responses other responders have had to the request that we submit indications of our emotional status while observing feeders. In my mind, none of the choices offered pertain. Overall, I would characterize my predominant emotion while feeder watching as alert interest, along with occasional surprise. Those sensations are the ones that have motivated my bird watching from the start. If you’re going to pursue this line of data collection, I wish you would include these emotional states in your list.
This is my first year with the program so I’m going to base most of my decisions on reviews and comments from others. I agree that emotions with each report seems cumbersome. I had impression setting up the account that the emotional aspect was more related to my overall reasoning to participate than daily feelings
BRAVO 👏. THANK YOU! I, personally love it! Whether it is user-friendly, completely accurate, or gets in the way of your experience, this addition is creating the space to acknowledge and have a mindful moment of how we are feeling at a particular time. This is a conversation that is only had in a hospital when describing a pain level. I absolutely want to see more and definitely with additional adjectives but what I see that is so incredibly important is that it is a queue to pause, evaluate how you feel, but to also create the habit, the language and to normalize a conversation with genuine interest to assess how you are feeling at any time. birding, biking, working, waking up. This is a whole area of our lives that have been left out and not encouraged to feel or speak of accept through a hospital system or mental illness program. What I see so incredibly valuable in this and birding, in general is the benefits to emotional wellness. Discovery of emotions in ways that are healthy to experience, fun, and that most people and children, especially do not know how to express or describe. the practice of birding, no matter what the data being gathered is or by whom. Global Ornithology experts have emotions, too. This program opens the door, encouraging healthy alternatives to pharmaceuticals or shame for individuals, children, and paves the way for more responsible organizations to incorporate, as well. We have to begin somewhere and I’m grateful, it begins with Cornel. the healing, mindful practice of birding and the science as a result of enjoying nature, doing what you love is invaluable. many spirited personalities, not appreciated or convenient for society, become diagnosed for a pharmaceutical treatment plan, when they should be birding.
I agree with the several other observers that the new how do you feel about this or that emoticon questions are simplistic, devoid of nuance and transform the previously easy to fill out format into an annoying and cumpersome waste of time. Being able to record the number of squirrels is less of a problem, but again, with te year;s brood scamperong wildely around the yard, “how many” is challenging and a wast of time. I’d settle for “the usual for or five”, “more than that”, or the two years ago, “too many, where did they all come from”.
I’ve been unsuccessfully looking for the “Click Here to Turn off Emoticons” button. Please?
Hello Scott, please feel free to email us at [email protected] if you would like to opt out of reporting your emotions.
Also, an “edit your last post” option would be helpful in fixing un-proofread misspellings!