Bird Migration
Earth Education Partnership Program schools in New Jersey and Costa
Rica have been studying bird migration as a vehicle for learning about declining
biodiversity and ways to reverse this trend. Student research projects are
major activities of the program. An Internet unit of study assists students
in their research projects related to bird migration and habitat protection.
An Internet forum in which participating students exchange data about habitat
in their communities and converse with experts in bird behavior is hosted
in the spring.
The Issue
Earth Wise issue paper: Learning objectives
Internet Unit and Forum
BirdsNet 97, 98 archive
BirdsNet 96 excerpts
about our on-line expert
Student Research and Action Projects
A sample of New Jersey Bird Migration
Projects
EEPP schools in New Jersey plant gardens for migratory birds and hummingbirds.
Where are the gardens in the Garden State?
The Issue
- Approximately 70% of the world's bird species are declining, and 1000
of the 9600 total bird species are threatened with extinction in the near
future. The rapid decline in the species of birds worldwide signals that
the ecology of the planet at large is changing. What are the chief threats
to birds worldwide? How are people attempting to protect them and their
habitat? Is it possible for both humans and a diversity of birds to thrive?
Earth Wise issue paper: Learning objectives
Through the background reading, students
- describe the phases of a bird's life as it faces the changing seasons;
- identify the dangers that threaten birds during each phase;
- identify the chief threats to birds worldwide;
- explain the dilemmas that people face regarding their protection.
In the research project, students
- adopt a neotropical bird;
- become familiar with its habitat and behavior and threats to its survival
in the wintering grounds, the breeding grounds, and along the route of migration;
and
- develop a plan of action to keep the population of the bird species
from further decline.
Internet Unit of Study
BirdsNet is an Internet unit hosted in March-April as
neotropical migrants are leaving their wintering grounds in Central America
and returning to their breeding grounds in the north. Guidelines for the
unit of study include activities that assist students in their research
projects and plans of action. Through them participants learn to access
and analyze information found at the web sites of agencies and organizations
such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey's range maps or weather
patterns that help or hinder a bird's migration.
Participants with e-mail addresses can enhance their research by participating
in an optional Internet Forum which is supported
by an electronic mailing list. Participants exchange data with other students
and converse with Dr. Paul Kerlinger, an ornithologist
and author of How Birds Migrate, who
responds to questions about birds in flight, adaptations, and threats to
migrants.
The Internet unit has been designed to allow for flexibility in teaching
styles and for use in a variety of classroom situations.
Student Projects
In an effort to protect neotropical birds and provide migrants
with food, several partner schools in New Jersey have been planting gardens
on their school grounds.
Other schools are participating in the New Jersey Audubon's annual World
Series of Birding each May, when volunteers learn to identify birds and
help monitor birds throughout the state of New Jersey.
Costa Rican students of Conservatoria Castella, an art and drama
school, celebrate birds and their love of nature through art, music and
dance presentations.
Other Costa Rican schools help protect bird habitat through reforestation
projects and the development of nature trails and nature reserves. Students
of Colegio de Bagaces in Guanacaste Province have planted over 500
trees in a reforestation project in their region.
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©1995 Education Development Center, Inc.
