Discover Birds Visits 280 Second Graders at Sevierville Primary School!

On May 15, 2015, Discover Birds volunteers from the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society visited Sevierville Primary School to present the Discover Birds Program to 280 enthusiastic second graders and their teachers!

The Discover Birds Program is a three-part program to introduce children to birds with a variety of interactive experiences.  The program is presented in three parts:  a slide show, a show-and-tell session and a bird walk that includes the use of binoculars and birding scopes.

Above, Billie Cantwell asks children about their favorite birds.  She then presents a slide show showing a variety of birds that live in different habitats with a variety of sizes, shapes, beaks and feet. 

The children also get to hear the bird's songs and stories about birds that Billie has in her own yard, including wintering Rufous Hummingbirds and a pair of nesting Screech Owls.

The children are divided into three to four groups to include a guided bird walk around the school grounds to find birds and learn to locate them with binoculars.  Above you see students practicing with their binoculars.  The Discover Birds Program recently acquired twelve new pair of student binoculars through a generous donation from the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological society and a matching donation from Eagle Optics.

Above Chris Welsh leads students on a bird walk along the creek that borders the school grounds. Among the birds found on our bird walks was the Mourning Dove, a bird whose name comes from the "mournful" sound of its song.

Sometimes the doves were seen on the electrical wires overhead.  At other times, they visited the bird bath.  At first glance the Mourning Dove looks like a large plain brown bird with some dark spots on its back.  

A closer look through binoculars or a scope shows that it is a colorful bird with a light blue eye ring, pink at the corner of its bill and pink feet!

Below, Doug Schneeberger shows students the difference between the size of a Bald Eagle egg (left) and the egg of a hummingbird.  The hummingbird's egg is about the size of a jelly bean.  The eggs he is showing are replicas of eggs made to the size and color of the actual bird's eggs.

Doug brought a variety of skeletons, samples of talons, eggs, nests, and other bird-related items to show the children, many of which were in cases and passed around for closer inspection.

Below, a display of owl pellet castings and the skulls and bones that can be found in them.  Owls eat small rodents with hair and bones that can't be digested.  These indigestible parts are gathered into a pellet in the owl's stomach and "cast" out or "thrown up" to expel them.

Below, Warren Bielenberg gets his telescope focused on a Tree Swallow perched on a wire so the students can see its shiney greenish-blue feathers that often look black in flight.

Sevierville Primary School has created a bird-friendly yard with many nest boxes erected to support cavity nesting birds.  A pair of Eastern Bluebirds, below, were on the nest box they have chosen for nesting.  The bright blue male is on the left in back, and the female, more grayish in color, is in the front.  Both the male and female have a rust breast.

Tree Swallows are also cavity nesting birds.  On the walk along the creek we encountered a male Tree Swallow bringing feathers to his mate who was waiting in the nest box.  Tree Swallows form a nest of dry grasses that is hollowed out and lined with feathers.  The feathers are often placed so that they curve over the nest.  In Massachusetts, 147 feathers were counted in one nest box!

Below, volunteer Karen Wilkinson talks with second grade students as they view birds through a scope.

Students rotated through each of the activities.  Below, Chris Welsh helps students get organized into smaller groups with an assigned leader for their bird walks.

As students looked at birds through binoculars and scopes, Chris asked them what they noticed about the bird.  What color is the bird?  What color is it's beak?  Can you see the eye color?  Is the bird large or small?  These details help you recognize the bird the next time you encounter it.

Above, a student tells Karen Wilkenson about the birds he saw on the creek trail.
(Don't miss the feet in the air behind him!  One of the students was turning cartwheels as she returned from her birding walk!)

Above, Morton Massey leads a group of birders back to the school!

A mature Bald Eagle treated us to a low fly-over carrying food in its talons with a small bird chasing it!  This was an exciting sighting for all of us!

A pair of Bald Eagles                                       Photo credit:  David Roemer

All the students knew that the Bald Eagle is our country's national symbol.

Chris Welsh recorded an eBird list of the birds he encountered on our bird walks.  Thirty-one (31) species of birds were found in and around the school yard, many of them involved in various stages of nesting activities!

May 15, 2015
Sevierville Primary School
Traveling
0.2 miles
190 Minutes
Observers: 1
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Discover Birds program for -280 2nd graders at Sevierville Primary School.  Exciting flyby by the eagle; falcon more distant and moving away.
1 Osprey
1 Bald Eagle -- Adult, roof level flyover with something dead in its talons
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Peregrine Falcon -- Large falcon flyover, too big for kestrel or Merlin, but no details other than silhouette
4 Mourning Dove
1 Chimney Swift
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Downy Woodpecker
3 Eastern Phoebe -- 2 young in nest under bridge
1 Blue Jay
2 American Crow
2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
3 Tree Swallow
1 Barn Swallow
1 Carolina Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Eastern Bluebird
2 American Robin
2 Gray Catbird
1 Brown Thrasher
5 European Starling
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Eastern Towhee
2 Song Sparrow
2 Northern Cardinal
1 Red-winged Blackbird
3 Common Grackle
4 Brown-headed Cowbird
2 House Finch
2 American Goldfinch
2 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)

Each of the students and teachers received a Discover Birds Activity Book compliments of KTOS and the Tennessee Ornithological Society!

A big thank you to Sarah Green and her fellow teachers at Sevierville Primary School for inviting the Discover Birds Program into their classrooms.  THANK YOU also to KTOS Discover Birds volunteers Susie Kaplar, Morton Massey, Chris Welsh, Warren Bielenberg, Karen Wilkinson, Billie Cantwell, Doug Schneeberger and Vickie Henderson for making this program happen!

Links and Resources:

Sevierville Primary School

KTOS--Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society
KTOS on Facebook
Discover Birds Program
Discover Birds Activity Book
Discover Birds Curriculum Guide
Discover Birds in the Tennessee Conservationist
eBird at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Tennessee Birds
Tennessee Watchable Wildlife--Birds
Cornell's free beginning birding app--Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Audubon Mobile Field Guides

The Discover Birds Program Visits Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge!

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!"

Above, camp students work exercises in their activity books after spending time finding birds in nature.

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

Brownie Troop 20869 in Oak Ridge Discovers Birds!

Discover Birds volunteers and Oak Ridge Brownie Troop No. 20869 had a great time at Big Turtle Park in Oak Ridge this week, on May 14th.  

The group met in the playground area to visit with Paula Schneeberger and learn about her interesting bird treasures.

Her collection of bird items gives students the opportunity to learn details about the physical characteristics of birds and their behavior and to see some of these things up close.  Everyone enjoyed a close look at one of the characteristics that make birds different from all other animals--feathers!

Paula discusses the individual feather parts or filaments and explains they can separate leaving gaps. Each filament also has barbs that help hold the filaments together.  Birds take care of their feathers by preening. Paula compares preening to a zipper on a jacket. Preening zips the filaments back together!

The girls already knew some ways that feathers help birds, including flight and protecting them from cold.

Some students also knew that bird bones are hollow.  This characteristic helps bird flight making the bird's body very light.

Above, owl pellets are passed around.  Students are challenged to figure out what they are seeing in the pellets.  Owls can not digest hair, skulls and some bits of bones.  Sometimes there is enough of a hint remaining to identify the animal that was digested.

Birds' nests come in many sizes, shapes and materials. Some birds weave their nest between two twigs so that it is suspended in between.

Volunteer, Billie Cantwell, bought a bird poster, offering the students an opportunity to get familiar with some of the birds they might see on their bird walk.  Many could already identify the American Robin and Northern Cardinal.

Students also received a Waterford Press pocket guide of Tennessee birds to take with them on their walk to help identify birds.

Doug Schneeberger (behind the leaves) talks with students about the birds they are hearing.  The group stopped to listen to a Blue-headed Vireo.  At the pond, students showed interest in the fish and insects they found.  

As they were leaving the trail area, the group moved into a field and saw a small flock of Cedar Waxwings. Everyone was excited to also find this bird on their pocket guides.

A big "thank you" to Brownie Troop No. 20869 for their enthusiasm and interest in discovering birds! Thanks also to KTOS Discover Birds volunteers Billie Cantwell, Paul Schneeberger, and Doug Schneeberger.  Each of the students received a free Discover Birds Activity Book to continue their interest and learning about birds!

Photo credit for all images:  Billie Cantwell

Links and Resources:

Waterford Press Pocket Guides--Tennessee Birds
KTOS--Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society
KTOS on Facebook
Discover Birds Program
Discover Birds Activity Book
Discover Birds Curriculum Guide
Feather parts--filaments
Tennessee Birds
Tennessee Watchable Wildlife--Birds
Cornell's free beginning birding app--Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Audubon Mobile Field Guides