Introducing Cornell's BirdSleuth curricula

Early on in Spring, when Darrow and I began thinking about what to do next with our lives, we had very little concept behind the matter. Then, as things tend to do during that time of year, a few thoughts sprung up. In a sense, we were putting together a migration of our own.


Darrow thinking

Each fall, after working for the UCSC Wilderness Orientation, we take off on various adventures, normally catching the last of the season up North before making our way back to Southern California to be with family for the holidays. We thought, "Hey, what a great opportunity to follow this season up close and observe some other creatures, mainly birds, migrating to their Winter homes."


Yellow Warbler, photo credit: BIJS

Evening more exciting was the idea of showing others what beautiful migrants (the birds of course) were passing by their windows. Heck, even the resident birds are pretty cool, what if we taught people about those too? And so it began...


American Crow, photo credit: BIJS

But, where do we start? Darrow and I both have experience working outdoor education, and have been observing and studying birds on our own for a number of years, but what we were proposing to do was a little beyond just stepping into a program and teaching. We were the program. We were the curriculum.

We began "Googling" and researching the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). We called around to other programs to try and pick some brains about how they were meeting the standards and to see if we might partner with an existing program.

After many late nights trying to decipher the NGSS for California, we got ahold of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They have a wonderful program, called BirdSleuth, used in classrooms all over the nation. They were more than willing to support what we had in mind.


photo credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology


a la Cornell

Over the past couple months we have not only been writing our own workshop curricula, but learning from BirdSleuth and the good folks at Cornell. Two weeks ago we were able to participate in a web seminar that made us ambassadors of the BirdSleuth program. This means Cornell will be sending us bird feeders and information to distribute to the classrooms we reach. They will also be sending us on the road with a kit of activities for our teachings and some ancient knowledge about outdoor education and spreading the word on birds! Hip, hip for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and all the other teachers using their curriculum in the classroom!


photo from Cornell


thanks again to Cornell

Ps. It's still not too late to donate to our fundraiser. We still have a ways to go! Follow the link on the blog bar, or go to our facebook page, and after "liking" us, check out the fundraiser through GoFundme.

Much love from the South Fork of the American River,
Kevin