A Worldwide Celebration of Urban Birds

Successful event brought in data, raised awareness of urban birds

P. Gash from Cobourg, Ontario, was among the participants who sent postcards describing what they saw during "Celebrate Urban Birds!"

More than 4,000 people participated in ?Celebrate Urban Birds!? during July 9–18, 2004. Group leaders from 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, 8 Canadian provinces, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, India, and the Philippines collected data and participated in other activities about urban birds. Celebrating were 40 schools, colleges, and universities, along with 15 home-schooling families. In addition, more than 80 museums, science centers, zoos, Audubon groups, bird clubs, environmental centers, scout groups, camps, and parks incorporated the celebration into their summer programming.

Thanks to everyone who participated in ?Celebrate Urban Birds!? If you missed the celebration, it?s not too late—you can still conduct Urban Bird Studies projects, try suggested activities, and send in your thoughts, artwork, etc. to be considered for publication in PigeonScope, the Urban Bird Studies newsletter. Visit www.urbanbirds.org. —Melinda S. LaBranche, project leader, and Karen Purcell, project assistant, Urban Bird Studies

Tilden, age 2, celebrates urban birds by becoming acquainted with pigeons near Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. Photo by Miyoko Chu

How Participants celebrated urban birds

• Families from across the continent observed birds together. Grandparents and parents introduced children to birding activities, and children taught their parents about the birds in their neighborhoods.
• College professors used our projects and materials in their courses.
• Camps and nature centers introduced Urban Bird Studies as a way to have fun and contribute to science.
• Libraries shared our materials with their patrons.
• Museums led walks and collected data for Birds in the City.
• Teachers of English as a Second Language helped students improve their English through bird watching.
• An oncology center set up an observation area for patients to participate in Crows Count.

The Dodo is an exting pigeon. From Gleanings of Natural History by George Edward, 1758, courtesy of Cornell University Libraries

Urban Birds Chat Room

Students in Puerto Rico chatted live over the Internet with the Lab of Ornithology's conservation specialist, Eduardo Iñigo-Elias. The topic was pigeons. An excerpt of their conversation and the English translation:

Martín: Es cierto que las palomas no pesan más de una libra?
Eduardo: La paloma Goura cristata de Indonesia pesa más de 2 kilos, pero estas son más terrestres que voladoras. Goura cristata es la paloma más grande que existe actualmente, pero recuerda que el pájaro Dodo fue una paloma que ya está extinta y pesaba más de 20 libras.
Josua: El pájaro Dodo podía volar?
Eduardo: Josua, el pájaro Dodo no volaba, fue terrestre.
Martín: Dime más información acerca del pájaro Dodo.
Eduardo: El Dodo fue una paloma que vivió en la isla Mauricio y se extinguió por la cacería del ser humano sobre estas.
Martín: Podría pasar esto con otras aves.
Karla: Eso podría ocurrir en Puerto Rico con la Cotorra Puertorriqueña.

Martín: Is it true that pigeons don?t weigh more than a pound?
Eduardo: The species Goura cristata of Indonesia weighs more than 2 kilograms (more than 4.4 pounds), but these birds are ground birds more than flying birds. Goura cristata is the biggest pigeon that exists but remember that the Dodo was a pigeon that became extinct. It weighed more than 20 pounds.
Josua: Could the Dodo fly?
Eduardo: Josua, the Dodo could not fly. It was a land bird.
Martín: Tell me more about the Dodo.
Eduardo: The Dodo was a bird that lived on the island of Mauritius, and it became extinct because of hunting by humans.
Martín: That could happen with other birds.
Karla: That could happen with the Puerto Rican Parrot.

Red-tailed Hawk by Donna Aitkenhead/CLO
American Robin by Johann Schumacher/CLO

?The experience of sharing and learning from you at the Lab has expanded my world. Now I pay attention to the birds and I have learned to observe them and to identify the most common ones in my community. Tomorrow I will offer an Urban Bird Studies training workshop for teachers and some community leaders. I am extremely hopeful.?
—Noemí Deliz, San Juan, Puerto Rico

?I celebrate urban birds every day of my life simply by looking out my windows and seeing crows, owls at night, swallows, sparrows, robins, finches, pigeons, doves, gnatcatchers, wrens, vireos, and ducks.
—Jeff Cloud Long Beach, California

?The honor is ours to be able to contribute our grain of sand to the investigative work that the Lab is doing. My group of students is between 13 and 15 years old, and they are excited about the project. They are planning to present their work at a science fair.?
—Raúl R. Festari, Montevideo, Uruguay

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Laura Erickson, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-1114. email: lle24@cornell.edu