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Great Backyard Bird Count
One-week Unit

Did you know that birding is the number one sport in America? According to US Fish and Wildlife Service, there are currently 51.3 million birders in the United States alone, and this number continues to grow! You and your students can join in the science and fun!

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is an annual four-day event (February 14-17, 2009) that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate in this hands-on science, from beginning bird watchers to experts.

Participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count as a culminating activity to the activities listed below. Please note the Do's and Don’ts of Promoting GBBC in Your Classroom. Observers do NOT need to be expert birders. Observation time can be as little as 15 minutes and can occur in any setting (school, living room, backyard, neighborhood, beach, forest, or sites like those listed at the bottom of the page). Observers only report the birds that they can identify, which can be as few as one individual bird. However, the cumulative data collected across North America is valuable to ornithologists and the data collection itself allows students to participate in real-world science. Have students record their observations in their journal, which they covered with decoupage on Day 1. The students can report the data to the GBBC website from home or at school, while any observations by students at school can be tallied together and reported as one set.

As a lead up to the actual Great Backyard Bird Count, we have put together some lessons and activities that will help you and your students learn about birds while addressing curriculum standards (K-8) in science, language arts and mathematics. There is no need to complete all of the activities listed below, but if you participate, especially in the GBBC itself, please help us by emailing or mailing the participation form.

Day 1:
Decoupage Habitats - Students are introduced to an art form called decoupage as they decorate the cover of their science journal. They will use this art form to focus on a specific habitat and the birds that inhabit that area. This activity blends art, science and geography into a high-interest, hands-on creative opportunity for students. The ease of the art form maximizes the likelihood that students will create quality work for which they can be proud and through which they will learn about a specific habitat and its avian residents. Writings, observations and data collected throughout this unit can be recorded in the journal.

Day 2:
Bird Feeder Buffet - Bird watching is inexpensive and can be enjoyed by beginners to experts. Best of all, birds are in every habitat during all times of the year! Building feeders provides the opportunity for adults and children to work together and will bring birds close enough for observation without binoculars.

Day 3:
Bird Field Marks - “Basic identification” lesson. Birds come in many shapes and sizes with adaptations in body parts that allow species to exploit niches (a particular area within a habitat occupied by a species) throughout the planet’s ecosystems. Being able to identify a bird is the first step in understanding its role in the local ecosystem.

Set up a bird feeder that can be observed from the classroom, even if that means using binoculars. Have several bird field guides at the station along with instructions on what characteristics (color, size, markings, behavior, etc.) are useful in identifying birds (see Bird Field Marks lesson). Have students observe the birds that visit the feeder and record the date, the time, the species of bird, the numbers of individual birds, and any observations, including bird behavior.

Fill the Bill – Experimenting with different representations of bird bills and different representations of food, students learn how bills or beaks have evolved to obtain specific food items. Especially, during the winter when food resources are lower, bird populations benefit by having different bill types to exploit all food opportunities.

Day 4:
Wildlife Funnies - Using cartoons with wildlife and environmental themes, students will apply their knowledge of wildlife characteristics and behaviors by interpreting the cartoons for their classmates. Here are some sample cartoons (credit: Gary Larson, The Far Side): cartoon #1, cartoon #2, cartoon #3.

Birds and Culture – “Throughout history, birds have been viewed as animals of special value and have been endowed with meanings often drawn from legends and stories that have endured over many generations.”¹ This selection of activities has students reading and writing about birds as they appear within cultures, including mythology, modern literature, state and national symbols, the arts, and social issues.

Day 5:
Songbird Travel Plans - Students may ask, “Why should we care about birds?” This lesson incorporates math through the use of data tables and graphs, science through animal migration and ecosystems, and geography through mapping and atlas skills while providing students the opportunity to physically enact the migration of neotropical songbirds from the Francis Beidler Forest to Central and South America.

Counting Birds - The Great Backyard Bird Count is free, fun, and easy—and it is hands-on science that helps birds and provides plenty of data for students to manipulate!

List of bird viewing spots in Lowcountry:

1. Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest for owls, woodpeckers, songbirds
2. Pitt Street Bridge (in Mt. Pleasant) for shorebirds, rails, loons, grebes.
3. Huntington Beach State Park for shorebirds, sea ducks, gannets, songbirds
4. Santee National Wildlife Refuge for waterfowl, geese, bald eagles, songbirds
5. Folly Beach County Park for shorebirds, sea ducks, gannets
6. Bear Island & Donnelley WMA for waterfowl, bald eagles, egrets/herons, wood storks, white pelicans
7. Congaree National Park for owls, woodpeckers, songbirds