Construction of an outdoor classroom at Islip High School. Photo by Wayne Mennecke.
April 22 is Earth Day! Since its inception in 1970, this date has been both a day of the celebration of Earth’s biodiversity and of service toward protecting the Earth. Here at BirdSleuth, we think everyday should be an ‘Earth day’ and participants in our Action Map project seem to agree!
Over the past year, we’ve seen people really take action for birds. In addition to putting up bird feeders, students have built nest boxes, created sources of fresh water for birds, participated in local nature center events or even redesigned their schoolyard to better attract and provide for birds. One group has even built an entire outdoor classroom in their school courtyard!
This year, we’re celebrating conservation actions like these all throughout the month of April! So it’s time to get outside and get to work. For the month of April we would like to award 10 educators and their students Pennington Premium Recycled Ecozebo Bird Feeders along with the opportunity to apply for a BirdSleuth Habitat Hereoes mini-grant!
Students constructing BlueBird houses. Photo by Pam Evans.
To participate in the Everyday Earth Day:
Take some action during the month of April, big or small is fine!
Document your actions with pictures or video.
Post your pictures/video on our Action Map with a description of your Earth-friendly actions.
April 30th is the last day to post your work!
The week of May 11th we’ll announce the outcome of our Everyday Earth Day!
What can you do?
Just like this little girl from Lincoln Elementary, we all should love the Earth. Even Earth Worms!
Share your bird-friendly actions during the month of April on our Action Map. Be sure to include photos and/or videos of your bird-friendly actions!
10 winners will be selected from the month of April submissions to receive 3 Pennington Ecozebo bird feeders. These feeders are made from 100% recycled materials and are perfect for feeding a variety of seed types. These feeders are great for the classroom or backyard setting.
Actions can be as simple as building your own bird feeder or as involved as planting native pollinator plants/seeds to encourage bird and butterfly activity in your schoolyard. If you are in need of inspiration, check out some of the entries on our BirdSleuth Action Map.This year, we’re celebrating conservation actions like these all throughout the month of April! So it’s time to get outside and get to work. and see what young birders all across the country have been doing to help their local birds!
Remember: it doesn’t have to be Earth Day for you to make a positive change to the earth.
Twelve Bridges Bird Club students with their feeder station. Photo by Janet Bass.
What action will you take?
No action is too small, even shutting off the lights or putting up window decals can help birds!
Here are a few actions we suggest to engage your students in bird conservation.
Try bird-proofing your windows! Within the U.S. alone, scientists estimate that millions of birds are killed or injured every year from crashing into windows. Often, the glass plates of windows either reflect the natural surroundings or appear invisible to birds, confusing them and resulting in collisions. If you have a bird feeder, ensure the feeder is farther than 30 feet or within 3 feet of a window. Whether you have a feeder or not, there are a couple easy and fun ways to give the windows visibility needed to keep our feathered friends from injury:
Make window decals. Take out your paper, makers, and tape for this idea and get kids drawing their favorite birds or cut out hawk silhouettes! Place the artwork on the inside of your windows and space the artwork no more than 4 inches apart to ensure effectiveness.
Add stripes. Stripe the windows using masking tape. In order to be effective, horizontal stripes must be spaced no more than two inches apart, and vertical stripes no more than four inches apart.
Paint the windows. With washable paint of course! Washable paint is available at most craft stores. A basic and effective design for the inside of your windows is stripes but feel free to allow the kids to get artsy. Whatever you choose to paint, be sure to keep in mind the spacing guidelines mentioned in the points above.
You can find more information on window collisions and ways to prevent them here.
The “early birds” with educator Janet Vigeland are out for a bird count.
Do a bird count! Bird watching is a fun, rewarding activity that gets kids excited about bird diversity and conservation. Submit your counts to eBird to contribute to the largest database of bird sightings in the world! Every sighting helps scientists get a better picture of bird biology, migration and conservation.
If you are interested in educator support for eBird and other citizen science projects, check out eBird with Groups or consider ordering your own Most Wanted Birds kit or Citizen Science Lesson Book to help guide you through bird identification and citizen science.
Organize a community conservation project around a habitat in need!
‘Many hands make light the work’. Try getting your neighbors or other classes at your school together for a group clean-up or improvement project! Reach out to your local college or university and see what they are doing for restoration or conservation.Get out! If there is a grassland near you, take a field trip for some bird counts! Or, save the gas money and spruce up your schoolyard to make it more bird-friendly. This includes planting native vegetation and mowing less frequently to provide adequate shelter for birds.
Grasslands are vanishing all across the U.S., swallowed up by development or invaded by foreign species. According to the State of the Birds report, these areas are essential to many species for habitat, breeding grounds, or territory. They are some of the places most threatened by agriculture, energy extraction, and urban development. Recent dedication to grassland conservation has stabilized several key grassland species, but more effort is needed if these species are to rebound.
Learn more! There are many organizations involved in grassland conservation efforts like the Nature Conservancy, the US Forest Service and Conservation Caravan. The State of the Birds report, Department of Environmental Conservation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service all provide summaries of grassland species currently threatened or in decline.
Not by a grassland? Check out the State of the Birds report for more information on high-priority conservation habitats near you!
Photo by Melinda Bandhauer.
What actions are you taking with your students for Earth Day?
Keep in mind, there are endless possibilities of how you can get youth outside making a positive difference in your community. You could plant a tree, reuse empty containers to build bird feeders and bird baths, bypass the bus and take a field trip in the schoolyard, attend an event at your local nature conservancy, or start a garden. Whatever you do, get outside and get going because the month of Earth Day is the perfect time to start!