Due to increasing urbanization, wetlands and streams within city limits are being altered, filled in, and degraded. The habitat that remains is critical for providing urban areas with ecosystem services and maintaining biodiversity, yet is often insufficiently monitored by environmental agencies due to a lack of resources. To help fill this void,…

This article reports on a classroom study of a unit on New Zealand birds that focused on adaptation and conservation in a Year 7 class. The unit used a "context as social circumstances" model. The researchers observed the nine lessons and interviewed students, the classroom teacher, and three other teachers who had taught the same unit.…

Students love a mystery. So what do America's most majestic bird, a bag of habitat clues, and a soft-shelled egg have in common? This easy-to-do inquiry activity engages students as they connect clues to problem-solve how the bald eagle reached the brink of extinction in the 1960s in the lower 48 states. It was designed to give students an…

This paper focuses on the implications of two emerging digital technologies on the act of field birding, and the implications of these objects for thinking about wild birds. While the adoption of new immaterial technologies promises to improve the ease with which birding is practiced, their use leads to new ethical considerations. Using the…

Students love learning outdoors, but how do you ensure they are absorbing the science and gaining skills as they do so? The authors found a way--a fourth-grade classroom teacher, a gifted/science resource teacher, and a group of fourth graders--embarked on a yearlong study of birds and the plants they depend on. They used their school yard as the…

A teacher relates her class's experience of raising a baby bird. (CB)

Describes the behavior and characteristics of Canada geese. (CM)

Describes the redwing blackbird, focusing on the period from March, when the redwings migrate to the northern United States to begin the breeding cycle, to September, when they start to flock for their migration south. Topics include physical characteristics, habitat, breeding, nest building, and migration. (JHZ)

Discusses recent research that reveals that prehistoric people colonizing the islands of Oceania caused a wave of avian extinction unparalleled since the age of dinosaurs. (LZ)

In this educational supplement, the requirements for successfully luring birds, mammals and other wildlife to the home are presented. Information concerning appropriate feeding stations, type of feed, water supply, beneficial plants and adequate shelter is detailed. (BT)

Currently available ornithology books are described. These include general reference books on birds as well as guides for identifying birds in their natural habitats. (JN)

Describes activities and resources that mix fun with scholarship in a secondary, elective ornithology course: all-day and class-period field trips; use of field guides, textbooks, periodicals, films, puzzles, records, correspondence courses; bird-banding operations; wildlife rehabilitation centers; Federation of New York State Bird Clubs; New York…

The Asa Wright Nature Center, on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, offers a diversity of wildlife species: 108 mammals, 400 birds, 55 reptiles, 25 amphibians, and over 600 butterflies. Learning opportunities include art and photography instruction, lectures, interpretive nature walks, annual resident seminars, and a two-day trip to Tobago. (MH)

A simple and effective field exercise that demonstrates factors affecting predation on bird nests is described. With instructor guidance, students in high school biology or college-level biology, ecology, animal behavior, wildlife management or ornithology laboratory courses can collaborate to design field experiments related to nest depredation.

This pocket folder of instructional materials is designed to introduce youth aged 9 to 12 to ornithology, the study of birds. The package includes a 4-H member's guide and a Leader's guide. The illustrated 4-H member's guide contains information about attracting and feeding birds. It also includes activities for cooking for birds, making bird…