| On a street in New York City recently I was taken aback by this runty little sparrow. I could have stepped on it if I hadn't looked down as it came within two inches of my shoe. Instead I wound up chastising it for its friendliness.
City people find all kinds of excuses for being pelted by the white stuff of pigeons. I particularly like the one that says that it's a lucky event.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York has a new citizen-science project that they are calling "Celebrate Urban Birds!" They want to learn more about how birds survive in cities and how they use urban green spaces such as parks, rooftop gardens and even potted plants on balconies for food, resting sites and shelter.
I'm not sure that many downtowners wax poetic over pigeons. Making the old Frisco Building in downtown Joplin, for instance, safe for human habitation was quite a project after all the years that pigeons had taken over unrestricted. And don't think they haven't come back.
To convince people to help them out the lab sent a press release that describes a "girl in 4-H" who "changed her mind about city birds" after taking part in their project.
"At first I didn't like urban birds," this girl said. "I thought of them as pests. Then I realized that they ware just like me and other kids. We are ignored or people just see as us (sic) pests or don't see us at all...yet if you look a little deeper you can see that on the inside we are pretty unique and cool!"
It's not to say that one needs to be a 4-H-er to take part in this project. Anyone can. Participants have to watch city birds for 10 minutes, check off 15 target species of birds and send the information back via the Internet.
While supplies last everyone who signs up will receive a Celebrate Urban Birds kit in English and Spanish with two urban birds posters, educational materials about birds and urban greening, a data form and a packet of sunflower seeds to plant in pots and gardens.
Sounds like a great project for home schoolers as well as senior groups looking for something more out of the ordinary than bingo.
To begin the sign-up process go here. Go Back | 
