BirdSleuth for Homeschools

One thing that I miss this time of year is birds singing, espcially on my walk into work.  Lately, all I hear is geese honking loudly as they go south!  Birds' ability to sing is one of the things I really appreciate about them.  In fact, our first BirdSleuth module (Most Wanted Birds) starts by kids listening to a bird "dawn chorus" trying to figure out how many species there are.  Bird song is a great clue to bird ID.  But the dawn chorus is a bit of a mystery:  Scientists have often wondered, "why do birds sing so much in the morning?"


My colleague, Karl Berg, a PhD candidate in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, likes waking up early... and it's a good thing! With his wife, Karl took to the tropical forests of Ecuador to find out why so many birds sing at dawn. Karl and his wife spent several months making over 100 hours of recordings synchronized with twilight to find out if the birds had a singing schedule (also called “bio-acoustical” monitoring). Back at Florida International University, Karl identified 130 bird species from the recordings and logged the times of 25,000 songs.

From his field work, Karl discovered that tropical birds begin to sing only when they see light. Big-eyed birds that foraged high in the forest canopy sang earlier while late-rising birds have small eyes and inhabit the dark, dense underbrush. I never even thought about birds having big or little eyes!

As the destruction of tropical forests continue, which affects the quality and quantity of forest light, Karl's research and the continued bio-acoustical monitoring of birds may help us understand more clearly how our interactions with the Earth affect the behaviors and health of other species.
 
It's all related, isn't it!?!
 
See the full article that inspired me to think about this at:  http://www.epa.gov/ncer/events/news/2009/01_08_09_feature.html
 
Happy Honking!
Jen

My collegues at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have been working on an educational online video series called "Inside Birding."  These videos take people step-by-step through learning to identify birds, and they're good for kids or adults.  Whether you are new to birdwatching and want to get better, or an experienced birder ready to take on new bird ID challenges, or simply someone who wants to learn a little more about the birds you notice in your neighborhood, I think you will learn something!

In this episode, my friends Chris and Jessie teach you the most fundamental skill for identifying birds – recognizing them by size and shape. Join them "in the field" to practice these techniques on common birds and learn how to distinguish similar species such as Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers.

Five years ago, I knew very little about identifying birds-- but using tips like the ones Jessie and Chris recommend (and a bit of practice) has made me more able to identify the birds I see.  Better yet... I simply NOTICE birds more.  And that's really the fun part for me!

I hope you'll enjoy this video, and maybe choose to get outside today and see what birds you see!

Happy birding,
Jen

Every fall, many people ask:  "I have a bald bird at my feeder! Is it sick?  What should I do?"


These bald birds are often Blue Jays and Northern Cardinals-- which seem to look EXTRA weird because they are brightly colored and typically have a tall crest on their heads. Thankfully, most of these birds aren't sick--they're just molting!  In late summer and fall, when a bird molts, it usually looses and replaces its feathers gradually, but occasionally a bird loses all of the feathers on its head. This is particularly true of Blue Jays, many of which molt the feathers of the head, or "capital tract," all at once. The result is a very strange looking bald bird! This bald appearance lasts for about a week before new feathers replace the molted ones.

Want to read more, and see some very strange photos?  Visit this site from the Cornell Lab's Project FeederWatch. One neat thing to notice in the photos: what a bird's ear looks like!

Keep your eyes out for bald birds!
Jen

It always surprises me when kids can tell me more about the tropical rainforest than they can about the habitat right outside their home.

I've always felt that a stewardship ethic could only be developed by at least spending some quality time in a local habitat. As the African environmentalist Baba Dioum said, “In the end, we will only conserve what we love. We will only love what we understand. We will only understand what we are taught.” How can we develop a love and understanding of the outdoors without spending time in it?

Whether you are a pro or still struggling with teaching your kids about the environment...you probably still wish for more ideas that will help get your kids get engaged in their local habitat.  "Saving the world" can be heavy business... but I'd like to start with something really simple... these top 10 tips for getting kids outside.  Take your kids outside--What birds do you see?  What are they doing? Do they interact with each other? What questions do you have about them?

Have fun,
Jen Fee