Bird Watch

Birches School students are so excited to be starting our project feederwatch.  As citizen scientists collecting data for Cornell Lab of Ornithology, we have chosen our winter count site.  Just beside the school building we will place three feeders. We plan to observe the bird-feeders for about fifteen minutes a day on Thursday and Friday each week that school is in session.  Students have already decided that they would like to offer a least two different seed types to our avian visitors, they would like to test whether different bird species have specific seed preferences.  We are learning to use tally sheets and to accurately record data just as scientists do.  Students will record the time of day we performed the watch and the length of time on a given day that we spent counting the birds in our feeder area.  They will document the daylight temperature extremes for each count day, the type/if any of precipitation, and the total depth of ice or snow cover during a given two-day count session.  Students will identify and report the highest number of each bird species that they see at one time.  Students will also have the opportunity to fill in paper data booklets and to participate in the online data entry of their recordings and to report rare, sick, or unusual bird sitings.  I look forward to updating you on their progress as we go!