How Does It Work?

Students participate in Citizen Science projects in their schoolyards, in parks, at home, or with a club.

As young citizen scientists students can:

• Observe birds in their own schoolyards and backyards, and soon become experts on the birds they see. Count the birds, and submit this useful data to the Lab.
• Pose questions about birds, then design and conduct their own research projects to answer those questions.
• Analyze and graph data and draw evidence-based conclusions.
• Write up and share their results in the classroom and through BirdSleuth Reports webzine and Classroom BirdScope, the national student journal.

 

BIRDSLEUTH can help you bring Citizen Science to your students!

The Lab has recently developed BirdSleuth, a curriculum that supports educators as they encourage inquiry through Citizen Science Projects!  A growing number of modules each support a specific Citizen Science project.  Resources include teacher guides, resource and student journal Pages, web support, and CD-Roms with videos and presentations.  To find out how to order and use BirdSleuth, click here.

Overview of Citizen Science Projects

You don't have to use BirdSleuth to implement Citizen Science Projects.  From studying urban pigeons to monitoring rural birdhouses, one of the following projects is sure to fit your needs. Teachers of pre-kindergarten through college have successfully used the following projects:  

URBAN BIRD STUDIES
Focus species: Any birds found near humans, especially doves, crows, jays, and gulls.
Season: Year-round
Observation area: Primarily urban, but also suburban & rural
Tools: No special tools needed
Web site: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/urbanbirds/

• Watch what birds do: Choose the type of bird you want to watch, then find a place to count the birds and watch their behavior.
• Walk, count, identify: Walk along a sidewalk or straight line (called a transect) while you count and identify the birds you see and hear.

PROJECT PIGEONWATCH
Focus species: Pigeons (Rock Doves)
Season: Year-round
Observation area: Primarily urban, but also suburban & rural
Tools: Pigeon food (bird seed, stale bread, popcorn)
Web site: http://birds.cornell.edu/ppw

Did you know that pigeons come in seven different colors?The color morphs and courtship behaviors are explained and illustrated in the project materials, along with information about genetics and the history of the fascinating relationship between pigeons and humans.

Two short videos (close captioned) are also available. Project materials are bilingual (English and Spanish).

• Find a pigeon flock.
• Count how many of each color (“morph”) are in the flock, and
• Record the colors of courting birds.

PROJECT FEEDERWATCH
Focus species: Winter resident feeder birds
Observation area: Urban, suburban, rural
Tools: Bird feeder(s); Binoculars and field guide recommended
Web address: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/

• Put up a bird feeder where it's easy for you to see.
• Identify and count the birds that visit your feeder.
• Send your data to scientists at the Lab of Ornithology.

GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT (GBBC)
Focus species: Winter resident North American birds
Season: Mid-February
Observation area: Urban, suburban, rural
Tools: Binoculars and field guide recommended
Web address: http://birdsource.cornell.edu/gbbc/index.html

• Watch your bird feeders, or take a short walk in your yard, neighborhood, local park, or nearby natural area.
• For each kind (species) of bird that you see, keep track of the highest number of individuals that you observe at any one time, then enter your results in an online checklist at the GBBC web site.
• Very popular with students and teachers in a variety of educational settings.
• Provides a snapshot of North American bird populations, incorporating results of over 60,000 individual counts within a 4-day period in mid-winter.

eBIRD
Focus species: All North American birds
Season: Year-round
Observation area: Urban, suburban, rural
Tools: Binoculars and field guide recommended
Web address: http://www.ebird.org 

• Count the birds you see -- any bird, anywhere, any time.
• Record your bird observations using bird count checklists.
• Enter your observations (data!) online and contribute to a huge database available to scientists and participants.
• Learn bird identification while gaining a fuller understanding of bird distribution, abundance, habitat use, and conservation issues.

NESTWATCH
Focus species: Any birds that nest in North America
Season: Throughout the breeding season (spring - summer)
Observation area: Rural, suburban, and urban
Tools: Birdhouse(s) for nest box monitoring. Binoculars and field guide recommended
Web address: http://www.nestwatch.org

What can birds tell us about the quality of their environment? Nesting birds can act as biological indicators to help us answer this question.

Participants…

• Put up birdhouses or look for open cup nesting birds.
• Monitor the activity inside the nest throughout the breeding season.
• Collect valuable information about each nest including location, type of habitat, and number of eggs and nestlings in the nest.

Researchers at the Lab analyze these data to help determine which factors contribute to a bird's overall nesting success.