The lucky students at Dr Coffin School spend every Friday learning outside of the classroom in the great outdoors. Green Calgary and CPAWS were thrilled to bring their YYC's Young Citizen Scientists program to each of the school's Grade 1-6 classes on Fresh Air Fridays during the 2017-2018 school year. This Friday in late May found us leading the Grade 5s and 6s on a guided bird walk as well as through a series of fun, outdoor games that reinforced their learnings about species at risk.
The most exciting part of our bird walks with students is seeing how their own communities seem to come to life once they start noticing the different species of birds that surround them every day. It is in the act of stopping to notice, and learning to identify different species, that awe and wonder set in. These birds have been here all along and we just never noticed before! Being aware of the breadth of biodiversity that surrounds us every day helps us to better appreciate and then care for the natural world around us.
.
Look up - way up! We heard this little Chipping Sparrow long before we spotted her.
There she is - at the top of the Spruce Tree!
A recurring theme of this walk was birds flying in and out of cavity nests in trees. We see you there Mr. Downy Woodpecker!
And if we kept our eyes trained long enough on the cavity in this Poplar we'd be treated to a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches coming and going.
Back at the school, Vanessa from CPAWS taught lessons about species at risk using fun and active games. How will these Whooping Cranes survive if their habitat is shrinking?
Students chose a focus bird of study before our guided bird walk. This student chose the American Robin as her focus bird. Watch the video to find out why!
We're so grateful to Wlad from the Friends of Fish Creek Park for leading us and teaching us about bird behaviour. In addition to the birds already pictured here, we also spotted a pair of Mallards flying high, some Franklin's Gulls, Common Ravens, a Swainson's Hawk, Black-billed Magpies, Black-capped Chickadees, a House Finch, some House Sparrows, as well as a few White-winged Crossbills.
Then back to the classroom for a workshop on submitting our observations to eBird. It's as simple as logging in, entering the date, time, and location of your bird walk, and marking down which birds you saw!
Being involved in Citizen Science gives students a reason to get outside and start noticing what they hadn't noticed before. What's more, the data citizen scientists provide can help species at risk. The data submitted to eBird by bird watchers all over the world provides scientists and conservationists with an amazing wealth of data. May this be the start of a fun new adventure in Citizen Science for you all!
Comments
Post a Comment