Nova Clark is an education specialist and ranger at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Monroe, Louisiana.
During a google search for Whooping Cranes, she ran across my blog, Vickie Henderson Art, and found the Discover Birds Activity Book and information about contacting Cyndi Routledge, in Clarksville, Tennessee, the Discover Birds Activity Book volunteer coordinator. Cyndi arranged for the Black Bayou Lake summer camp to receive 30 books that were donated by the Nashville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.
This Black Bayou camp session shown here was a week-long session for 3rd to 5th grade students who participated in nature walks, fishing, boating and a range of out-door activities that helped them learn more about nature.
Students completed activities in the Discover Birds book and took walks to find birds and learn about their habitat.
A bird beak learning experience is shown above.
In her recent email Nova describes the student experiences:
"The camp is a nature camp that runs for 3.5 hours each day for a week and we cover all kinds of nature topics, just to get kids more familiar with the outdoors. This week it is for kids who have completed the 3-5th grades in school. We have been using the books as well as going outside and taking nature walks which also includes looking for birds and learning about habitat. So we have looked for nests, talked about adaptations, played the migration game [Migration Mad Lib on pg 19 of the book], and had a bird-beak challenge. "
Above, students use utensils to represent different bird beaks and try to pick up food items to demonstrate how different beaks work best with different foods.
Photo credit: Cyndi Routledge Prothonotary Warbler
Nova continues: "We also have a challenge trail which includes two bird stations, one of of which is standing on one leg like a heron the other flapping like a hummingbird. We will be fishing tomorrow and talk about our fishing birds. Still hoping to actually see a Prothonatory Warbler on the trail, always a challenge since we hear them but they are good at hiding from us!"
The Discover Birds Activity Book is published by the Tennessee Ornithological Society and distributed free to teacher classrooms and non-profit organizations that provide out-door activities to help students learn about birds and their environment. The book is designed to continue the learning and excitement that students experience when they discover birds in their natural world.
A special thank you to Nova Clark for her inquiry about the book and for providing the above images and description of the camp program at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge! Thanks also to Cyndi Routledge and the Nashville Chapter of TOS for their generous donation of books!
Our goal: To give students an exciting experience that will spark their interest in birds for a life-time!
Discover Birds Program
Discover Birds Activity Book
Discover Birds Curriculum Guide
Nashville Chapter of TOS
This makes me happy.
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