LABIRD-L for Friday, February 16, 2001

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Time   Backyard Bird Count Starts Today   Peggy Siegert    12:31am   Great Backyard Bird Count going on now!   Allison Wells    11:03am   bird education workshop   David Brown    11:22am   Re: Has the finch exodus begun? & Woodies looking for a nest.   Van Remsen    1:25pm

To use email addresses replace '(AT)' with '@'. This is done to confuse the spam 'bots.

[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: Backyard Bird Count Starts Today
From: Peggy Siegert <PEGSIEGERT(AT)CS.COM>
Date: 16 Feb 2001 12:31am

LAbird,

Just a reminder of the GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT sponsored by Cornell Lab.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday...Feb 16-17-18-19.
Check out http://birdsource.cornell.edu/
It's a lot of fun and easy to enter data on line.  It's even better if you
can do it with children.

Peggy Siegert
Slidell, LA
zone 8b
****************


[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: Great Backyard Bird Count going on now!
From: Allison Wells <amw25(AT)CORNELL.EDU>
Date: 16 Feb 2001 11:03am

Greetings LAbirders-

A reminder that the Great Backyard Bird Count is going on right now,
through February 19. We need LA observations! Given the activity of birders
on this list, we anticipate a strong showing for the count. Please let us
know what birds you saw in your yard this morning, from your car ride on
your way to work, at the office or other location by entering your
sightings at <www.birdsource.org> Check the site often for the latest results!

Remember, you can count on any of the days and at any number of locations,
just don't add your counts together.

Thanks to all who are already reporting!

Good birding,


[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: bird education workshop
From: David Brown <dbrown5(AT)TULANE.EDU>
Date: 16 Feb 2001 11:22am

LABIRDERS-

Tom Sherry and I are organizing a 1-2 day teacher education workshop geared
towards birds and high tech (including internet) lessons to be held in
conjunction with the September 2002 North American Ornithological Conference.
At this point we are looking for people interested in serving on a committee to
organize the workshop. Anyone interested in participating either in planning or
in the workshop itself is encouraged to contact us.  Also, if any LABIRDers
know
of any non-LABIRDers that would be interested we would appreciate you
forwarding
this message to them or providing us some contact information.   A more
detailed
description of the planned workshop is provided below.

Thanks

David Brown
310 Dinwiddie Hall
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118
dbrown5(AT)tulane.edu
504-419-2818

Teacher Education Workshop      North American Ornithological Conference, Sept.
2002

Birds offer countless exciting examples of various biological and
environmental phenomena.  Children, as well as their parents, appreciate
the beauty and wonder of birds, and because of this fascination people are
often predisposed to a deeper interest in bird life.  The professional
ornithological community must seize on this interest by sharing their
expert knowledge and deep enthusiasm of birding and conservation issues.
As part of the 3rd North American Ornithological Conference (NAOC), being
held in September 2002 in New Orleans, LA, we are organizing a one to two
day professional workshop for K-12 teachers.  The goal of this workshop is
to improve communication between ornithologists and educators,
and to provide educators with valuable new material and methods to
strengthen the learning environment in their schools.  To achieve this
goal, we will bring together the best, most creative professional and amateur
ornithologists and regional educators for one or two days of organized
interaction.
The workshop will be held on the Monday and/or Tuesday preceding the
September, 2002 NAOC.  Our tentative program includes a full day of
interactive presentations, seminars, and discussions.  Presentations could
be by invitation only, allowing the organizers to select the world's best
bird educators to share their material and techniques with the local
education community.  Although we hope to invite a broad spectrum of
presenter participants, we are interested in developing an emphasis on the
adaptation of technological innovations and hands-on lessons into the K-12
science curriculum.  We are also considering a second day of optional
participation involving field trips and outdoor workshops at local parks,
zoos, and nature centers.  Please realize, our planning for this workshop
is in a preliminary stage and we invite suggestions.
This workshop is not intended to be one-directional.  Of course, the
majority of seminars and presentations that take place during the workshop
are intended to foster the incorporation of birds and bird issues into
lesson plans and curricula of K-12 science teachers.  The teachers will
also provide valuable information on how ornithologists can become more
involved in local schools and better direct their efforts towards
educators' needs.
We hope to attract participants from both a local and regional pool.  If
we are able to raise sufficient funding we may be able allay some expenses by
participants.  Further, we do not intend this workshop to be limited to a
local or regional impact.  We would like to compile and publish the
proceedings as either a series of lesson plan pamphlets or as a book
containing an array of bird lessons and classroom innovations for
dissemination to all teachers interested in incorporating birds into their
classroom.
        To accomplish this broad set of tasks we will seek funding from various
sources including submission of a grant proposal to the National Science
Foundation.  We also want to organize a committee of devoted local
scientists and educators that can help us plan and accomplish this
workshop.  If successful, this workshop would provide valuable resources
for K-12 educators and hopefully attract additional participation in K-12
education by the community of professional ornithologists.


[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: Re: Has the finch exodus begun? & Woodies looking for a
         nest.
From: Van Remsen <najames(AT)unix1.sncc.lsu.edu>
Date: 16 Feb 2001 1:25pm

On Thu, 15 Feb 2001, Bill Wood wrote:

>
> Only Two.  After months of having 50 to 100 American Goldfinches every
> day,  I had a grand total of two this morning.  No Pine Siskins in three
> days and the last Purple Finch was seen briefly Tuesday.  I'm sure the warm
> weather played a part in the exodus.

Bill/LABIRD: likewise, a major drop in AmGo numbers here over the last few
days, from several hundred to as few as 45 yesterday, maybe 12 today. This
is typical for AmGo in mid-February -- major disappearing act
corresponding to microburst of flowering, leafing-out, and budding in the
trees, which they feed on heavily.  The warm weather, I suspect, is only a
secondary thing -- it promotes the budding of the trees but not
necessarily the "departure" of the goldfinches.  If it's a typical spring,
then watch for a second influx in late March/April (when it's even hotter)
once trees fully leafed out.

#################################

Van Remsen,
 LSU Museum of Natural Science,
 najames(AT)unix1.sncc.lsu.edu