|
Feathering their nests: Heath day care students get bird's-eye view of bluebirds
Jul 06, 2009 (The Paducah Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Bluebirds are flourishing at Heath Elementary School.
Students who attend the summer day care program, Pirate's Playhouse, have been watching the fifth nest this year in one of the bluebird nesting boxes monitored by the school. That nest also is followed by the Web site of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
Video cameras in the boxes have been taping the bluebird action for several years. The cameras transmit a signal that runs continuously on the Web site at http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/nestcams/camera/view?cameraID=C100077.
Having the cameras looking downward into the nesting boxes, a 24-hour monitoring of the activities inside is possible without disturbance to the birds. With the Internet connection, Web site visitors can watch their very own bluebird reality show. They can see a still image of the box interior that is updated from the camera every 20 seconds.
"This is our best year yet," said Kim Fondaw, who took over the program from teacher Lisa Alvey four years ago. Fondaw directs Pirate's Playhouse in the summer and oversees the computer lab during the school year.
"At the first of the year, we had a starling get in it," she said. "We've had bird drama, you could say. The kids love it."
Alvey began the project as a spin-off of the Kentucky Bluebird Society, which encourages and supports bird-friendly educational programs. Paducah birder and bluebird expert Bill Freels has been a supporter of the program since the beginning and helps educate Fondaw on all the bird happenings.
Classroom monitors show the nests throughout the year.
"You get to see the birds and all that fun stuff," fourth-grader Ashley Brown said. "You get to see the birds hatch. That's my favorite part."
Sixth-grader Beau Garcia said he has watched the nests ever since he started school.
"I like seeing them hatch," he said.
Four tiny blue eggs are in the nest now. Hatching is anticipated around July 10, according to the Web site.
Fondaw discovered that bluebirds actually use a sort of diaper, called a "poop sack."
"The mother bird takes it far away, so no predator can get it," she said. "Animals take care of their children. Some humans can't even do that."
The father bird is also part of the action.
"He comes and feeds her," Fondaw said. "We watch him come and give her worms. I said it's about time a daddy did that."
Angie Kinsey, a Paducah Sun staff writer, can be contacted at 575-8657.
To see more of The Paducah Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.paducahsun.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Paducah Sun, Ky. Distributed
by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To Smart Product Home's Homepage ]
|