Students are encouraged to tally the birds in their area and submit tally sheets and photos for prizes. What a fun way to learn about area birds!
Taking part in The Great Backyard Bird Count is a wonderful way to get children excited about the wonders of the bird world. For three days children (and adults too!) count birds and make tally marks.
The dates for counting birds are February 16-19th. Birds can be counted anytime or several times in this three-day window. Count in the backyard, school yard, park, field, wooded area, wildlife sanctuary or refuge. Use separate tally sheets for each time and area. Label each sheet carefully. Tallies can be turned in online or mailed in. The student can see immediate results on the web site.
If you missed the bird counting dates, your children can still do bird counting projects on any dates you choose to set. Pick three days and do a count. Compare your totals and stats to those of the Great Backyard Bird Count totals from February. It might be fun to do one for your backyard or schoolyard several different times of year and compare your findings. Students could collect and post pictures of their favorite birds.
You will need tally sheets--which you can make yourself. List only the birds found in your region. Have the students look at bird books and field guides to find familiar birds and copy out the bird names to make his own list. Most bird books will show the common species of birds.You can also print off sheets which list birds in your area from the website listed below.
For area tally sheets that can be printed for participants, go to The Great Backyard Bird Count web site and type in your zip code. The sheets list all the birds a child might see in his area. This site also gives full directions on counting methods. For example, how to estimate the number of birds in a large flock by counting those in a small section and multiplying by the number of same-sized sections in the flock.
For a bit of extra fun for the wordsmiths in your midst, look at the group names of birds:
- Have you fed a host of sparrows lately?
- Seen a flight of swallows or doves?
- Shooed away a murmuration of starlings?
- Been spooked by an unkindness of ravens?
- Consulted a parliament of owls?
- Have you gathered eggs from a brood of hens?
- Have you watched the areobatical stunts of a cast of hawks?
- Listened to a descent of woodpeckers rat-a-tat-tatting holes in your house eaves?
- Have you seen a movie about a colony of penguins?
- Maybe joined a party of noisy blue Jays?
Have fun counting birds and helping ornithologists with their statistics!
