Parent Portal
Project FeederWatch at
The Willow School
Project FeederWatch is a survey conducted by people all over North America. Project FeederWatch is when someone watches their bird feeder(s), bird bath, or plants and counts the number of birds of the same species they see at one time. They then record what they saw on Cornell’s FeederWatch survey website. Because it is used to ascertain winter migration and long term trends in bird dispersion and amounts, Project FeederWatch starts in November and ends in April.
Project FeederWatch is conducted by Cornell University, specifically Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology. For participants in Canada, the survey is done by Bird Studies Canada. Since anybody can partake in this project, The Willow School decided to do Project FeederWatch. A few Willow classes are participating in the project by going outside twice a week and recording the bird species and amount of birds they saw. The science teacher, Amy Schwartz, and Suzzanne Mahoney are leading the Willow School’s part of the project.
The Willow School focuses a lot on the environment and what things affect it. The Willow School decided to do this project because they take an interest in helping the environment. I asked Alexa, a 7th grade student, about what PFW means to her as a Willow Student, and she said,”We care about nature so much that we take our free time to help the environment around us.” Amy Schwartz, the middle school science teacher, said that,” (Project FeederWatch) helps to get students to think about their connection to nature and the importance of observations in science class. Project FeederWatch allows students to participate in a nationwide science project.” The Willow School wants to help the environment because they know that,”There might be a shortage of birds in a species, and if it is not taken care of, the species might go extinct,” said Evan, a 7th grade student participating in Project FeederWatch. The Willow School has been involved in Project FeederWatch for 11 years. Suzzanne Mahoney stated, “To me (Project FeederWatch) means that we can contribute to the health of the bird population, not only at Willow, but all over North America.”
By Olivia Rubano, 7th grade
