Black-capped Chickadee by iStockPhoto

The beauty of "Celebrate Urban Birds!" is that you get to choose your level of participation and there's lots of room for creativity. Involvement can be as simple as providing a table with educational materials. Or perhaps you would like to host a basic event that fits into your organization's programming needs while helping to educate others about urban birds and conservation concerns. Want to go all out? You could plan a large community event with music, art, educational workshops, or community  improvement activities.

Here are a few ideas of ways to celebrate during the May 13 - 15th "Celebrate Urban Birds!"

Scientific Inquiry

Ring-billed Gull by Kevin McGowan

We hope that you will make sure to integrate the "Celebrate Urban Birds!" citizen science activity into your celebration. It is easy, fun, and the data collected will help scientists at the Lab of Ornithology better understand how birds are affected by urban green spaces.

Simply go on a walk in an urban green space with your identification poster and data form (these materials will be available in April) and try to find 15 target species of birds! Fill out your checklist and send it back to the Lab!

Other ideas for promoting science literary...

• Bird walk/bird count
• Banding demonstration led by a bird specialist. A great resource is: The North American Bird Banding Program
• Project Wild activities
• Research presentations or educational workshops on important bird topics: 
  - How to make a bird feeder
  - Container/balcony gardens
  - Urban landscaping for city birds
  - Creating nestboxes
  - Stopover ecology sites
  - Endangered species/extinctions
• Raptor demonstrations. A great example is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Rature Free Flight
• Plant or food source survey (team up with experts at universities
• Native plant scavenger hunt
  

Raven by Katie Yamasaki

Get Creative!

Birds have long served as a source of artistic inspiration. Encourage others to use their creative side to "Celebrate Urban Birds!" through...

• Poetry
• Theater production
• Journaling
• Paint and sculpture
• dance
  

All of which can be shared at celebration events.

Want to organize an art event as part of your celebration? Perhaps you would consider organizing one or more of the following:

• Bird art show featuring the works of local artists
• "Eco film festival"
• Poetry reading
• Mural creation

Do you have a great idea? Please email your celebration ideas to urbanbirds@cornell.edu. We will post as a resource for others.