Fledging Young Birders
Written by Noah Strycker - May 2016
"Imagine 14 enthusiastic fourth-graders screaming, 'BIRD! BIRD!' and charging pell-mell across a field to get a better look at a pigeon," says Amy Simso Dean, an enthusiastic birder, raptor center volunteer, and parent of two kids at Burroughs Community School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "We're working on the screaming part," she adds with a smile, “but there are no 'junk' birds here.
These are not your typical bird walks.
With the help of two local birders, Julie Brophy and Amber Burnette, Simso Dean launched Burroughs Birding Club in 2015, which now has a couple dozen members--all fourth- and fifth-graders. They mix things up with art projects, owl pellet dissections, DI contests, migration hopscotch, Bird Bingo, and other fun activities.
This is serious sidewalk science: The kids contribute to eBird, participate in Project FeederWatch and Celebrate Urban Birds, and learn about bird conservation.
Habitats need to be protected as we do our homes because birds need to have shelters to grow properly," says fifth-grader PeterNguyen. "I love to look at them and hear them sing. Birds make my life more meaningful."
Meanwhile, Simso Dean keeps things fun.
"Mostly we just get them outside where they discover that nature is way more fun than an Xbox," she says. "After a long day in class, it works best if any learning happens spontaneously. A pile of feathers sparks a conversation about predators. A downed monarch butterfly leads into a talk about planting milkweed"
Several organizations have pitched in to help provide the students with binoc- ulars, field guides, notebooks, and other materials, and the program quickly ex- panded to two sessions each fall, winter, and spring.
Kids' families have gotten into it, too, with a new appreciation for their feath- ered friends. One family came across a Great Blue Heron trapped ni fishing line and rescued it. Another adopted a Purple Martin house. Through this young bird- ers' club, interest in birds si spreading through the community.
"We ourselves may not be able to change the world," says Simso Dean, "but we all can inspire some kids who may go on to change it."
Originally ran in Birder’s Guide to Conservation and Community