People everywhere are learning about city birds, watching birds for science, and engaging in urban greening efforts.

 

by Pedro Fernandes

What is the Celebration?
The Celebration is an opportunity for everyone across the country to watch birds and participate in activities focused on birds and neighborhood habitat improvement.

 

 

How can I Celebrate Urban Birds?
(learn about and help birds in cities)
Watch birds and send us your observations! It's easy and we provide all the materials needed.

• Learn about 16 species of birds
• Watch an area about the size of half a basketball court for 10 minutes
• See if you can find any of 16 species of birds
• Tell us about your birdwatching area by filling in the data form
• SEND US YOUR OBSERVATIONS

 

The Celebration theme centers around urban greening for birds (through container plantings, community gardens, community beautification projects, green rooftops). Check out the Helping Birds section of this website for ideas.

 

When and where do Celebrations take place?
Anytime and anywhere! Watch birds and submit data any time. Spend ten minutes or become much more involved! It's up to you. Celebratory events take place at museums, nature centers, schools and after-schools, libraries, businesses, universities, science centers, senior centers, zoos, community centers, parks, daycare centers, backyards, and more. Each event is unique.

 

How does my organization participate?
Partners can participate at all levels. You choose how involved you want to be. For example you could...

 

• simply provide a table with celebration kits so that families and individuals can participate independently
• host a simple event at your organization that fits into your programming needs
• host and promote a large community event (with music, art, community improvement activities, container planting projects)

What is the Celebrate Urban Birds Kit?
The Celebration Kit is a bilingual (English and Spanish) set of materials that includes an introductory letter with 16 wonderful drawings of urban birds to take with you when you go outside to watch birds; a colorful urban birds poster with lots of information about birds, urban greening, and threats to birds in cities; a silhouette poster featuring 16 species of urban birds and cool facts about them; a simple data form for recording your observations and return envelope; and a packet of sunflower seeds to plant in pots and gardens. You can download the kit (all but the seeds!) from this website or order it for free when you register or by emailing urbanbirds@cornell.edu.

How many Celebration Kits will I need?
One kit has all the materials needed for an individual participant or family.

I'm having a large event and would like to order enough kits to distribute to the public. Is it possible to order large numbers of kits for free?
Yes. We want to get the kits into the hands of the public so that people everywhere observe birds and send in their data. We can't learn about urban green spaces without the public's involvement. It is a great help to us!

I'm working with a classroom or group. How many kits do I need?
If you are working in a classroom or with a group, one kit is all you need. We ask that you send back one data form from your entire group. If you want more than one kit because you plan to divide your group into more manageable mini-groups or because you'd like enough sunflower seeds for each of your students, don't hesitate to order more than one kit.

When will my Celebration Kit arrive?
Those who indicate on the sign-up that they want kits mailed will have theirs mailed within two weeks. You can also email us at urbanbirds@cornell.edu to request kits.

by Youme Landowne

Why are the kits free?
Because we want to make sure that EVERYONE can participate in the celebration and send us their observations not only those that can afford it. If you are able, please send us a donation to help cover our materials and shipping costs. We would definitely appreciate your help.

Where is the Science?
An important part of the celebration is to have citizen scientists help scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology collect information about sixteen key species of urban birds. The scientists have created a project that will use data collected from participants in the celebration to study these resident and migratory birds - their numbers, their behavior, their interaction with the urban habitat. Learn more about the science behind the Celebration.

- How do I collect data? The Celebration kit includes an easy-to-use data form with instructions that you can use and enter your results online.

- I saw NONE of the species on your list, do you still want my observations? YES!! Please, please submit your observations EVEN if you saw NONE of 16 species of birds. We must know where the birds are as well as where they are not!

- Why only 16 species? To include anyone who wants to participate, we have kept the number of birds to observe limited. Those who have never birded before can easily learn to identify these birds that they probably see every day, and some that visit green spaces in cities only in Spring and Summer.

The challenge was to design a simple project that everyone can do that would also answer questions about the relative use of small versus large patches of habitat for birds and to examine edge effects. By picking a handful of species that people can easily recognize, we can ensure that the quality of the data will be robust and also achieve participant levels sufficient to investigate the effects of habitat patch size and location at multiple scales.

 

 

 

 

Is this an ongoing project?

Yes. You can participate repeatedly ANYTIME.

 

How urban is urban?
As long as you fill in all the required information about your bird watching area on your data form, we will gladly accept data from all locations, including suburbs, small towns, small cities, as well as large cities. It is exciting for us to receive data from a large variety of "Green Spaces". Don't be shy -- send in your data!

If you are interested in joining the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in this exciting event, please register as soon as possible.  Please feel free to invite others in your community to join us as well. The more the better!