Urban Bird Studies News

"Celebrate Urban Birds!" 2007

Birds cover thousands of miles during migration. Like any long-distance traveler, they need a place to rest and refuel.

What do birds do when all they see below are towns and cities?
How can we provide green spaces with adequate food and shelter to help the birds?
What impacts do community gardens, rooftop gardens, parks, green balconies, or even a single tree in a sea of concrete have on birds?

Help the Cornell Lab of Ornithology find out in an exciting and free nationwide event called Celebrate Urban Birds! May 10-13, 2007, www.urbanbirds.org/celebration.

People of all ages and backgrounds can spend from ten minutes to four days learning about city birds, watching birds for science, and engaging in projects to green up their community. Participate on your own or help organize an event in your community through your favorite group, museum, nature center, school, library, business, senior center, community center, club, park, or backyard!

Sign up as soon as possible by visiting www.urbanbirds.org/celebration . Invite others in your community to join us as well. The more the better!

The Celebrate Urban Birds! Kit is ready !

To receive your free kit, simply register for Celebrate Urban Birds! , www.urbanbirds.org/celebration.

The wonderful kit includes a striking poster by muralist Katie Yamasaki, silhouette poster of the 15 target species of birds with cool facts, seed packet of dwarf sunflowers to plant in containers, and simple data forms for submitting your valuable data.

DVD Available!
All of our introductory and instructional videos are now available on one DVD. The DVD includes bird guides with cool facts for each of the projects, navigation in both Spanish and English, PigeonWatch color morph guide, and much more. Included is a handy bird identification guide of five common city birds that you can take with you to watch birds. If you'd like to purchase the DVD please send $5 per DVD to Urban Bird Studies, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850 or email us at urbanbirds@cornell.edu. Let us know if the cost is a hardship for you or your program.

Interesting Research
Why are green spaces in urban locations so important?

-Aggression is significantly lower among people who have some kind of nature outside their apartments vs those who don't.
-Green spaces foster a sense of community.
-Green outdoor spaces tend to allow for more creative play and more adult interaction.
-Girls who grow up with greener views from home show less impulsive behavior.
-Residents living in greener surroundings report lower levels of fear and less violence.

These are some of the recent findings of the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Learn more at the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory web site: http://www.lhhl.uiuc.edu/

The Pigeon Paradox
The Pigeon Paradox: Dependence of Global Conservation on Urban Nature by Robert Dunn, M. Gavin, M. Sanchez, and J. Solomon.

An exciting article in December's issue of Conservation Biology discusses achieving global conservation by promoting direct experiences with urban species. It is thought that people are more likely to become involved in conservation action when they have direct experiences in the natural world. 80% of people are found in cities, therefore, humans mostly experience nature though much maligned urban species such as pigeons and other introduced species thought of as urban pests. The paper examines the idea that perhaps global conservation will depend more and more on people's interactions with urban ecosystems.