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Which project is for me? |  |
WHAT IS CSS? Which project is for me?
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Features of All Our Citizen Science bird projects: Student participants of these
technology-based curricula Which Project Is for Me? From studying urban pigeons to monitoring rural birdhouses, one of the following projects is sure to fit your needs. CLASSROOM FEEDERWATCH Focus Species: North American feeder birds With this middle-school curriculum, students set up a bird feeder area in their schoolyard, learn to identify the birds that visit their feeders, and count the highest numbers of each bird species they see at their feeders. These data are used by Lab researchers to track broad-scale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.
Focus species: Pigeons (Rock Doves) Did you know that pigeons come in seven different colors? PigeonWatchers locate a friendly pigeon flock, count how many of each color (morph) are in the flock, and record the colors of courting birds. Students and teachers doing Schoolyard PigeonWatch can help scientists solve the mystery, "Why are there so many colors of pigeons?" 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).
Focus species: Cavity-nesting birds that use
birdhouses, including bluebirds, chickadees, and swallows What can birds tell us about the quality of
their environment? Chickadees, bluebirds, swallows, and other cavity-nesting birds can
act as biological indicators to help us answer this question. Participants in
Classroom Birdhouse put up birdhouses and monitor the activity inside them
throughout the breeding season. They collect valuable information about each nest
box including location, type of habitat, and number of eggs and nestlings in the nest.
Researchers at the Lab analyze these data to help determine what, if any, factors
contribute to a bird's overall nesting success. GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT Focus species: Winter resident
North American birds While this project is not a formal curriculum,
it is very popular with students and teachers in a variety of educational settings.
As a participant of the Great Backyard Bird Count, you watch your bird feeders, or take
a short walk (less than 1 mile) in your back yard, neighborhood, local park, or
other 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. This project provides a
snapshot of North American bird populations, incorporating results of over 60,000
individual counts within a 4-day period in mid-winter. COMING SOON! Links more citizen science projects studying other aspects of the natural world, such as rivers, bats and butterflies.
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