Engaging in Citizen Science

Emily, Grade 9

Textured Birds Art Show

Students at Tualatin Valley Junior Academy worked with science teacher Phil Kahler and art teacher Toni Kahler to produce stunning works of professional-quality art of focal species selected from among the Lab’s many research and citizen-science projects, inspiring the two paintings shown here. Their work will be displayed in an art show at the Lab this autumn.

Kim, Grade 9

Does Bird Feeder Color Affect Backyard Bird Feeding Habits?

by Elizabeth, Grade 6, Dayspring Christian Academy

I did my experiment to find out if birds would eat more seed from a particular colored bird feeder. In my experiment I used five different colored bird feeders loaded with the same kind of seed, all set next to each other in a carefully selected location. Bird color vision is actually better than human vision. Since most fruits I saw on bushes in my neighborhood in winter are blue, I hypothesized that birds would eat seed from the blue-colored bird feeder.

All bird feeders were identical, spray-painted with two coats for full-color brightness. Seed was set out at the same time for each. The experiment ran from December 1, 2007, to January 18, 2008. I did five seven-day test runs. The birds ate much more seed from the green and yellow feeders, with green being the feeder that birds ate the most seed from. Of all the seed eaten during the experiment (463.2g), the birds ate 40.46% of the seed from the green feeder and 36.42% from the yellow feeder. The red feeder ranked in the middle. This seems opposite of all the things I read about red feeders and attracting birds. The birds ate the least amount from the blue (7.05%) and white (4.91%) feeders.

My hypothesis was proven wrong. Birds ate seed the least from blue and white feeders and the most from green and yellow feeder. I think birds may have eaten more seed from the green feeders because green is the natural color of bushes. I cannot understand why yellow feeders did so well. Maybe the color yellow on the bird feeder matches the color of grasses that birds eat seeds from.

The article above was written by a student as part of the Cornell Lab’s BirdSleuth curriculum. For more, visit www.birdsleuth.org.

Schoolyard Nest-Box Trails and More!

Science in the schoolyard

“I was hoping I would get a picture of a bird so I brought my camera. When I was checking the nest boxes I was taking a picture of the nest box and a bird just flew in, it was perfect timing. It was also cool getting to use power tools to build our nest boxes.”
—Owen, Age 12, “Home Tweet Home” participant

Kids are taking an active role in improving their environment in a fun, hands-on way. How? The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch and affiliated citizen-science projects provide teachers with the tools they need to set up nest-box trails at schools, through our “Home Tweet Home” partnership with Nature and PBS. Some schools are monitoring nests as part of a new NSF-funded initiative called “Communicating Climate Change,” aimed at engaging communities in projects that seek out local indicators of climate change. In Ithaca, New York, Dewitt Middle School students monitor nests and record data such as first egg date, a critical piece of information used by researchers to understand how birds are responding to climate change.

Tammie Sanders

Some of these programs work within existing curricula. Others are especially appropriate for after-school and environmental club activities. However teachers use them, they work! For more information, please visit www.nestwatch.org.

When Teachers Become the Students

Birds enrich scientific inquiry for teachers

How can we help teachers feel comfortable conducting scientific investigations focused on birds? With funding provided by the National Science Foundation, in the summer of 2008 the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdSleuth project piloted a seven-week online course for teachers. The 22 participating middle-school teachers experienced the fun and frustration of ornithological field investigations. With the help of online readings, worksheets, and interactive bulletin board discussions, they exchanged advice and reflected on implementing this kind of student research in their classrooms.

Teachers struggled with some problems associated with field work. A feral cat patrolled one study area; a hawk “guarded” one feeder under observation. One course participant commented, “I stress to my students that part of science is sometimes not gathering as much data or the data that we would expect.”

By the end of the course, participating teachers felt better able to help their students conduct investigations and analyze, interpret, and report their results. One teacher noted, “I didn’t think that a bird experiment was a ‘doable’ project, but now I realize that it is an excellent path not only to get the students doing an inquiry based project but also to get them to appreciate the outdoors and the animals that live in the city.”

A new-and-improved online course is scheduled for July 2009.
—Jennifer Fee and Nancy Trautmann

To Save Right Whales

Tricia Petroski

When seven-year-old David Petroski of Oakland, New Jersey, heard on National Public Radio that funding for acoustic monitoring of highly endangered North Atlantic right whales in the New York Bight had been lost, he took action. He started up a lemonade stand and donated the money he raised to the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. David’s hard work reminds us at the Lab how precious these whales are for so many people.