We are preparing to ship our exciting new Exploring Bird Behavior module.  Projected ship date is December 1.  Order yours today!

With Exploring Bird Behavior, learning science content is an ongoing process brought to you by birds and their amazing behaviors!

• The perfect opportunity for classroom inquiry! Curious students ask and investigate their own biology questions, with the help of FREE online instructional materials. They are then invited to submit their work to BirdSleuth for possible publication!
• Students observe corvids outdoors for the "Crows Count" project, or observe and collect data about images taken from our nestbox cameras, and submit their data the Lab. Kids love the fact that the data they collect is used by scientists to help understand and conserve birds! 

• Learn about bird behavior, animal intelligence and adaptations, and how scientists study behavior.

There are six lessons included in the curriculum:

Investigation 1: Be a Bird Observer

Investigation 2: Thinking about Behavior

Investigation 3: Become a crows count scientist

Investigation 4: Be a camclickr investigator

Investigation 5: Scientists Testing Behavior

Investigation 6: inquire into Bird Behavior

Inquiry Through Two Citizen Science Projects

Crows Count project studies the behavior of American Crows and other corvids (crows, jays, magpies, and ravens). Because corvids are common, boisterous, and relatively easy to identify and count, they make ideal subjects for outdoor student investigations. Despite how common corvids are, many of their behaviors have not been well-studied with large sample sizes, so Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientists want to understand more about how these birds interact in groups. The Crows Count project was developed to examine several questions that can be answered only if lots of people in many areas collect data and share the information with Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientists. That’s citizen science: interested people helping scientists by taking part in their research, for example, by collecting data about their local environment.

CamClickr is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s newest citizen science project. Conducted completely online, CamClickr allows participants to move through two levels of behavior classification in an effort to sort and code all of our archived images of bird nesting behavior. With CamClickr, students can have fun and learn about the secret lives of nesting birds, while they help scientists classify breeding behaviors. With citizen scientists helping us sort and tag these millions of photos, we’ll soon be able to investigate questions such as: How do feeding rates change throughout the day? How do feeding rates change as the nestlings grow? What is the frequency of feeding by males as compared to females?