Great Backyard Bird Count!

Russ Schipper and students looking at birds
 





This past Friday my students participated in the Great North American Backyard Bird Count through Cornell University.  Russ Schipper, from the Kalamazoo Audubon Society, was their bird guide and resident expert.  He and Anne Long (Director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Board) took students out in small groups to look for birds.  They spotted 80 birds and 12 different species.  Most of the birds students observed were ones that they had studied in class.  The week before the count, students made bird feeders with Anne Long.  The very first thing they checked when they went outside were their bird feeders.  They most certainly attracted birds to the area.  It was an exciting morning!  We submitted our findings to the online site at Cornell, along with hundreds of other backyard birders.  It was both fun and exciting to participate in this real-life science project!  Results can be found at www.allaboutbirds.com (look for a link to the Great Backyard Bird Count).  A special thank you to Russ and Anne!  We had a wonderful time exploring birds in our backyard!