e-Bird

Stop what you are doing and go outside.  Close your eyes and concentrate on listening to individual sounds. My guess is that you will hear at least one bird voice in the cacophony of sound. Birds are a part of our everyday auditory experience. The world would be a strangely quiet place without their calls, chirps, whistles and screeches.

Birds amaze us and delight us, but did you know that they play a significant role in understanding ecosystems and environmental health? Birds are critical to the process of pollination, as well as insect and rodent control. Scientists have learned about environmental dangers by observing the changes in bird populations.  For instance, declining populations of bald eagles and peregrine falcons revealed the problem of DDT and heavy metals in the environment.  Coal miners once carried small cages containing canaries to detect the presence of carbon monoxide and other gases.

If you or your child/grandchild have an interest in birds, you may consider starting a free account with ebird.org.  This amazing site/app enables bird trackers world-wide to create sighting lists as well as upload images and sound recordings into a personal account.  The information you provide becomes a part of an enormous database of information that helps scientists and other birders track birds and understand their impact. It is easy and fun to have a place to record your own experiences while also watching your data become a part of something so useful to others.

Using eBird also builds many important life skills. Information provided by bird trackers merges to create interesting charts and maps that can be studied and analyzed to answer your questions.  Challenge children to organize a bird tracking expedition by identifying species, where they are in each season and how to navigate to each location. Critical reading comprehension, data analysis, map and navigational aptitude are just a few of the skills used to plan a trip.  Observation, photography, data collection and report writing are skills used to gather and upload information to the site.

Bird tracking can become a life-long passion and enjoyed no matter where life takes us. Tracking birds often leads to other interests and connects us with a vast community of people all over the globe. If nothing else, it triggers a delicious sense of wonder on a daily basis and keeps us gazing heavenward.

Cultivate Wonder... Discover Design

Resources and References
ebird.org
The Institute for Bird Populations
Desert Birding in Arizona Lessons

Image- Pixabay