Host a Celebrate Urban Birds event in your classroom, school or with your youth group. 

by Joanne Bovee

Focus on science:

• Participate in very simple (only takes 10 minutes) data collection.  Send your data to the Lab of Ornithology. The Lab provides all materials needed for your classroom or youth group at no charge. Learn more about the Celebrate Urban Birds Kit.
• Have students write postcards and send them to us at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (postcards may be painted on one side and written on the other) describing their experiences with nature.
• Spend 15 minutes outside with journals. Students should draw, write or record what they see and experience. Share observations with the world by sending sending them to the Lab
• Hold a big “sit”! Have students spend time in small groups just listening and recording what they see. Keep a running record of observations in a central location at the school.
• Conduct a bio-blitz of the school. Try to name the species of all the plants and animals you can find in your school grounds.
• Keep a running list of questions that students ask about birds and nature in a central location.
• Have students design their own inquiry projects. These can be based on observational data or they can design an experiment. Make sure to present findings in a “peer reviewed” journal or at the “Celebrate Urban Birds!” event.
• Have kids learn more about identifying birds by sight or sound. Take the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Quiz!

Explore Sound!

Brentwood Science Magnet

• Learn about the Urban Bird Sounds Project. This project led by students from Codman Academy Charter Public School (Boston, MA) is a model example of how to integrate technology with nature. It inspires youth and adults alike. Youth researched urban birds and created podcasts focused on the songs and calls of city birds. Podcasts and CDs  by youth are available for free.
• Learn sounds of birds by visiting the Bird Guide and listening to the sound of each of the birds. Have kids go outside, sit or stand, and listen to the sounds of the outdoors. Do you hear birds? Can you draw the sounds? Can you make mnemonics for the sounds you hear?
• Explore bird sound with Colleen McLinn from Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds. Play games and learn activities that support a better understanding of sound.
• Check out mnemonics for bird sounds: http://www.stanford.edu/~kendric/birds/birdsong.html
• Check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Quiz to learn more about bird sounds and how to identfiy birds. 

Arrange a Teleconference with staff at the Lab of Ornithology

We'd be happy to talk to students at your school via SKYPE or a similar program. Your students can feel more connected to the Lab of Ornithology, ask questions, and by using a webcam they'll be able to see staff and connect directly. See Brentwood Magnet School to learn how one school did it.

Integrate the arts:

• Find art activities and lesson plans to help youth connect with nature. Activities include fabric collages, tile painting, bird mobiles and much more.
  
• Hold an art/mixed media/or photography contest or a non-competitive art showing of student art inspired by the natural world in cities.
  
• Could dance, theatre, or music be inspired by birds, urban nature, and conservation? Let students try!
• Have kids research and then draw birds and other urban wildlife on cardboard or heavy stock paper. Cut out the birds and then take a field trip. Have the kids place their cutouts in suitable habitat and photograph them. See full article and lesson plan by Katie Yamasaki. 
• Have kids create/paint postcards inspired by urban nature and conservation. Send the postcards to the Lab of Ornithology.
• Create a mural inspired by urban nature.
• Have students create urban terrariums with city landscapes and green spaces.
• Could you create art with plants? Create a vertical garden or container gardens for the birds.

   

Get involved in greening efforts

• Plant flowers (included in kit) on school grounds.
• Plant flowers in inexpensive pots to take home. Learn more about providing good habitat for birds. Visit the community garden page.
• Plant a school garden for the birds. Learn more about gardening for the birds by visiting our urban greening pages or community gardens pages.
• Make a brush pile for the birds on school grounds,
• Erect a bird feeding station. Learn more about attracting birds to your school.
• Build and put up nesting boxes. Learn how.
• Attempt to create a vertical garden!
• Have a scavenger hunt of food sources for wildlife.
• Have a scavenger hunt of native plants.

Explore careers in conservation and nature

• Have students learn more about careers in science, conservation, and nature by watching short videos of staff at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology talk about how they first got hooked! Meet scientists, sound archivists, communication/designers, and more. See videos.
  
  
• Read A Youth's Look at Black & Brown Faces in America's Wild Places by Dudley Edmonson -- This book features portraits and stories of people of color as they describe their experiences with nature. The author begins the book by saying, "So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Explore varied careers  and barriers experienced to involvement in America's natural landscape.

Involve parents and extended families  

Invite parents and families to your school or organization for a family-friendly celebration of birds. You could have students’ original science projects on display, a gallery of art projects about urban nature, a ‘food for the birds’ table with snacks like sunflower seeds, nuts, and fruit, presentations by students about the findings of their data collection, student-led bird walks for parents and families to collect data. Involve families in greening projects (see above). Don’t forget to send us photos! Email urbanbirds@cornell.edu.

Read books, create displays, or host a movie night about birds and conservation.

Download our Children's Book Recommendations

Here are other wonderful books and movies to consider

• Pale Male a film by Frederic Lilien – Watch incredible footage of Pale Male a daring Red-tailed Hawk that takes residence in the heart of New York City.
• Greening School Grounds Edited by Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn. Wonderful activities, plans, and resources for parents and educators.
• Flute’s Journey by Lynne Cherry – A young Wood Thrush named Flute makes its first migration from its nesting ground in a Maryland forest to its winter home in Costa Rica, and back again.
• A Youth's Look at Black & Brown Faces in America's Wild Places by Dudley Edmonson -- This book features portraits and stories of people of color as they describe their experiences with nature. The author begins the book by saying, "So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Explore varied careers  and barriers experienced to involvement in America's natural landscape.
• Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City by Barbara Bash –  Explore how 13 species of birds have successfully adapted to city habitats.
• Grandmother’s Pigeon by Louise Erdrich – An eccentric grandmother leaves behind three old eggs that hatch into Passenger Pigeons. Blends fantasy and science.
• City Birding : True Tales of Birds and Birdwatching in Unexpected Places –  by Mark Allison, Curtis Badger, Mary Durant, Mark S. Garland, James Gorman, Paul A Johnsgard, John Nichols, Marienn Winn, Julie Zickefoose – You’ll be amazed at what species of birds can still be found using ‘remaining pockets’ of habitat in heavily urbanized areas.
• Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds by Miyoko Chu – learn about the lives of songbirds as they move from continent to continent with the seasons.

More Ideas: 

by Inga Poslitur

Have students make their own books or movies on conservation issues, greening communities, urban nature, or just about birds. Don’t forget to share the books or films with others in the school.

Create a calendar that highlights birds and conservation.  Students can research 12 birds or conservation issues, write text, create art, and include suggestions for involvement. Have your calendar printed and sell it. Students then choose a charity of choice to donate proceeds. (Idea by Jane Clark, 5th Grade teacher at Caroline Elementary School, Ithaca NY)

Pair up with a senior center in your community.  Have students pair up with seniors to design and carry out a community action project. They might create a small community garden, plant flowers in containers, collect data for citizen science, build and erect a bird feeder or bird house, put on a play, create a book of stories told by seniors that highlight experiences with nature in the city, and more.

Dimitry by Katie Yamasaki

-- Alert your local media about the work that your school or youth group is doing.

-- Post posters in your school or other public area. Once you sign up for the Celebration you'll get your kit in the mail.

-- Put a link to “Celebrate Urban Birds!” on your web site.

-- Alert members of your school and your community about the Celebration by sending an email message or listserv message encouraging them to participate and sending them to this web site. 

-- Provide Internet access and information about “Celebrate Urban Birds!” for families who don’t have Internet access.