The Birders Report

Steller’s Jay and House Finch photo by Brigitte Jordan

Brigitte took this photo that looks like a House Finch riding a Steller’s Jay.  We had a foot of snow on the ground for the past week so the backyard is full of Dark-eyed Juncos, Steller’s and Western Scrub Jays, Spotted Towhees and Golden-crowned Sparrows.

We still have the Lesser Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, Mourning Doves, House Finches, Oak Titmice, Acorn Woodpeckers, and White-breasted Nuthatches at the feeders.  We have also been blessed with visits from Nuttall’s Woodpeckers, Hermit Thrushes, American Robins and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the past couple of weeks.

Plus we still have a few Anna’s Hummingbirds hanging around too!  Merry Christmas to all and have a great Camera Critters Weekend!

News Release December 19, 2008 – Revised teaching unit is released from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Ithaca, NY–Why is that crow chasing a hawk? Do birds fly away from noisy places? How long will an American Robin spend pulling a worm from the ground? The BirdSleuth curriculum from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is all about tapping into a child’s natural curiosity to answer scientific questions in a fun way. The just-released revision of the Exploring Bird Behavior module offers educators even more lessons, posters, and multimedia resources. The new student toolkit comes with two important tools for collecting behavioral information about birds: a BirdSleuth stopwatch and tally counter.

“Kids love to work with gadgets,” says Birdsleuth project leader Jennifer Fee. “Give them a stopwatch or put them in a lab coat, and they transform into little scientists. And then it becomes easier to explain tricky concepts, such as the difference between a behavioral event and a behavioral state.” (An event can be counted; a state can be timed.)

This module also comes with a DVD showing bird behaviors most students have never seen, including stunning slow-motion video of the exotic courtship dance of the Greater Sage-Grouse. A 32-page teacher’s guide includes step-by-step instructions for completing all six lessons, or “investigations.”

The Exploring Bird Behavior module, like the others in the BirdSleuth series, engages students in inquiry by building lessons and activities around citizen-science projects from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This module uses the Crows Count project. Students count crows and their relatives (ravens, magpies, and jays), observe their behaviors, and report what they see to the Cornell Lab where scientists are studying the dynamics of group behavior in crows.

“BirdSleuth gets kids interested in nature, gets them outside, and teaches them to think more critically,” says Fee. “They ask questions, collect data, look for patterns and evidence, test ideas, make conclusions, and share results.”

To learn more about the new Exploring Bird Behavior module and about the entire BirdSleuth curriculum, visit www.birds.cornell.edu/BirdSleuth.edu. The staff is happy to answer any questions about how to make Birdsleuth a welcome supplement to your existing science curriculum.

Contact:
Jennifer Fee, Project Leader, (607) 254-2403, jms327@cornell.edu.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a membership institution dedicated to interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Visit the Lab’s web site at www.birds.cornell.edu.

Venus, Jupiter and the Moon Begin to Converge photo by Larry Jordan

This was taken a couple of weeks ago, on November 29th, just two days before these three celestial bodies converged.  You can read an interesting article on this phenomenon at the National Geographic website.

I liked the pastel shades of the sunset mixed with the moon, the planets and the city lights of Redding.  Enjoy the other Skywatch Friday photos.