Northern California Flight Map

First of all, thanks to all who have contributed to our online fundraiser at GoFundMe. In the first week we've raised over $1,200. We're hoping to meet our goal of $5,000 by the end of four weeks so if you're thinking about it, or know someone who might be interested in supporting us in our goal, please donate now! More to come on this...

Now, without further delay, the route!

This is our route for Northern California. After starting in Crescent City, we will be at our first school in Leggett, California (the second marker on the map) within five days of hard pedaling. We will then continue to Laytonville (next marker South) before cutting a sharp West turn to the coast for a few days. By the time we get to our next set of schools in Occidental, Santa Rosa, and Petaluma we will have seen lots of birds and have lots of stories to tell!

Currently, we are making plans with Bay Area schools and southward after that. If you are a teacher in the Bay Area, or know of any teachers in the Bay Area who would be interested in our project, please visit the contact page and get ahold of Darrow or Kevin! Get your school on the map! Woohoo!

A rainy day workshop with UCSC's Mini Slugs!

During the past week we had the opportunity to visit our former tromping grounds at UC Santa Cruz and teach our first workshop (!) about the birds of the campus. With a bit of wet weather engulfing Santa Cruz for the day, Kevin and forty 6-9 year old campers hunkered down in an "activities" room and talked about bill shapes and sizes.



A big thanks to Chris Lay, curator of the UCSC Museum of Natural History, for letting us use some bird specimens. We spent the morning talking about different birds in Santa Cruz and wondering, "What do they eat?"


True scientists, hard at work, examining a Rufous Hummingbird noggin and accompanying bill


After a discussion about the different types of bills and what they are used for, we built homemade bird feeders out of pine cones, sunflower seed butter, and bird seed.

For more on this art project, follow the link here.

Question of the day (from the campers): Do birds sing in the evening before the sun goes down, too?
Answer: What do you think? Get out there and listen!

We are thankful to have two more workshops scheduled with the campers at UCSC's Sammy Slug Summer Camp. Stay tuned for more updates as we prepare for our adventure this Fall!

Summer Stirrings...

We hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and are settling into the relaxing and focused time of summer.

Yellow-Bellied Marmot (Sierra Nevada)

Planning for The Bird School Project continues! We have had an overwhelming response from teachers in our first 5 counties (we are fully booked from Crescent City to Marin!) and we continue to reach out to teachers and districts. We have also gained some support from outdoor gear and bike companies who have offered to give us discounts on whatever gear we need for the project. Things are really getting underway!

We are planning and communicating remotely right now. Kevin has been in Port Townsend, Washington spotting the migrating shorebirds while playing his fiddle and Darrow has started working a season of field research in Yosemite National Park studying Pikas and Bighorn Sheep and finding marmots and beautiful alpine Gray-Crowned Rosy Finches.

We plan to be launching our Kickstarter project within the next 2 weeks and are looking forward to getting some support so we can start gearing up for the fall. So keep your eyes out for that!

Also, we are officially on Facebook! Please go like our page at: www.facebook.com/birdschoolproject

We are reaching out to anybody and everybody who can help us get in contact with teachers on the coast or donate gear to our cause. We are currently on the lookout for the following gear:

Bike trailers
Bike tools
Binoculars
Bird Field Guides (can be used)

A White-Tailed Ptarmigan (Sierra Nevada)

As for all of you supporters out there, the summer time can be a great way to get to know the resident birds of your area and to get a look at some of the visiting migrants. Some birds may still be singing in the morning and evening times so try listening out for those before the singing season wraps up! Try putting out a bird bath (can be homemade!) to attract birds during these hot times. This is a simple practice that has the potential to really bring the birds to a central viewing area. Don't get discouraged if they don't come immediately though! Sometimes it takes birds a little while to get used to changes and to simply find new water sources. You can also try visiting areas with natural bodies of water--local ponds, streams, or coastlines. Any place where you might like to swim could be a similar destination for the birds!

And if you're really wanting to learn more about where to go looking for birds or what birds are in your area right now, check out ebird.org. This is an incredible resource for anyone interested in learning more about birds. Go to the "explore data" tab then click on "explore a location" and enter your city or county. You will be able to see all of the birds recently found in your area and where they were found.

Have fun out there and thanks for your support!

The Quest For Widespread Bird Education Begins!

Photos courtesy of Benny Jacobs-Schwartz

The Bird School Project (BSP) is an idea created by Kevin Condon and Darrow Feldstein--two environmental educators and graduates of UC Santa Cruz with degrees in environmental studies. Our goal is to bike from the California-Oregon border south along the California coast to San Diego during the fall bird migration of 2014 (October-December). Along the way, we hope to visit as many schools as possible in order to provide bird-related education to students along the coast. Our mission is to empower young people to explore the natural areas and organisms of their hometowns in order to create a more ecologically literate population.

It is certainly a unique project, we're not really sure if anyone has ever done anything like it before, but we are excited to try it out and see how it goes. You may be asking yourself some questions about it.


Why would you do that? What's the point? How are you going to fund it?



These are all valid questions. Well, as young 20-somethings who are absolutely in love with the outdoors and the study of natural history, we couldn't help it! We were recently faced with a decision: wander about as vagabond naturalists and outdoor-enthusiasts (something we have both done in the last couple years) or settle down for more work or go to graduate school. The thing is, we couldn't just pick one. The wandering lifestyle is fun and all, but we are aware that we have the teaching, planning, and leadership skills to really do something helpful and meaningful for the world. And we could stay in one place and work a 9 to 5 but we also desire something a bit more exciting and liberating. And so we came up with this project. It's a way for us to be mobile and have an adventure yet apply our skills to make a difference in people's lives and inspire a stronger sense of nature connection in our fellow citizens.
Sounds pretty good, right?

Now for the point, what is the point anyway? Students on the California coast already live in one of the most beautiful places in the country and probably have or will receive some type of experiential outdoor education from one of our many fine outdoor education institutions. Do they really need more? Actually, we believe the answer to this question is...YES!

California is the most biologically diverse state in the US. And with over 200 bird species and an impressive millions of migratory bird visitors each year, birds are an enormous and invaluable part of California’s natural history and heritage. In a critical time of climate change, urban and residential development, rapid population growth, and landmark decisions about our state’s future, we must remember to not lose sight of the unique and valuable natural resources that our state has to offer. And we need to present these ideas to our youth. The first step toward preserving our state's biodiversity is by having our population fall in love with it. We hope to help students and communities along the coast do just that.

So how ARE we going to fund something like this? Good question! This seems to still be uncertain. We have just received a generous sponsorship from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology BirdSleuth program and they have agreed to provide us with some curriculum materials and bird feeders. This is our first sponsorship and we are beyond thankful for it! We have also applied to a couple of grant organizations for some funding as well and will hope for the best. Finally, we will soon be creating a Kickstarter campaign and will be contacting all you readers out there for your support--so stay tuned!

That's it for our first post but keep following us and tell your friends. Stories, more information, and adventure to come soon!