FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] New Release - Caldwell County Students Think And Act Globally

[Ed Ray <edrayosprey@xxxxxxxxx>]

Caldwell County Students Think And Act Globally   
  Caldwell County Elementary School (CCES) assisted by Kentucky Environmental 
Education Projects (KEEP) Inc. have come a long way with their studies and 
thinking.  School environmental education program successes are mounting.  CCES 
and KEEP wish to share some of our successes and achievements with readers so 
that we can invite you to join us through the Internet or by participating in 
our present and future projects. The activities described below resulted in 
several significant local and state awards, were fun and were inspirational to 
all involved.       
   
  CCES initial showcase project involved the establishment of a bluebird trail 
in cooperation with the Kentucky Bluebird Society.  An excellent bluebird 
population was soon established and is now being incorporated into school 
studies. Video cameras were placed in several bluebird-nesting boxes so that 
classroom students indoors can observe bluebird behavior taking place inside 
nesting boxes outdoors without disturbing the bluebirds. One bluebird box 
camera is connected to the Internet so that worldwide viewers may share the 
experience.  A new camera box, occupied by bluebirds was recently added 
featuring day and night live video images and sound!  Recently a special after 
school event was conducted including guest speakers and outdoor activities to 
improve the campus for wildlife.  Wildlife food plots, trees and other habitat 
improvements were established during the hands on event with the help of 
regional experts.          
   
  Through partnerships facilitated by KEEP, Inc. and CCES, CCES students began 
studying ospreys, an international migratory bird species.  Ospreys nesting at 
Lake Barkley spend their winters from Florida to South America.  Students 
learned that many of the osprey nests at Lake Barkley were often destroyed by 
high winds and high water so the CCES students and KEEP, Inc. worked together 
to raise funds to buy materials to build twenty-three new osprey nesting 
platforms for Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lakes.  Many of the osprey nests were 
blocking navigation lights  making boating accidents more likely which could 
potentially have resulted in a toxic spill from a commercial barge.  The osprey 
nesting platforms now provide safe nesting sites and significantly contribute 
to proper navigation light operations!  Kentucky Tech students at Princeton, KY 
constructed the platforms. The platforms were donated to the Kentucky 
Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) and the US
 Coast Guard.  CCES students, teacher, principal and KEEP, Inc. were invited 
aboard a USCG vessel to see most of the twenty-three new platforms installed. 
The USCG also helped CCES and KEEP, Inc. install a camera for showing 
osprey-nesting images on the Internet!  A regional power company assisted CCES 
students and KEEP, Inc. by placing an Internet camera above a nesting platform. 
 The platform provides a safe nesting location for the osprey pair that had 
been attempting to build their nest on a high voltage power line transformer!  
This nest with its three osprey chicks may now be viewed live on the Internet 
at the below listed Internet site!  Last year an effort was made to obtain a 
grant for placing satellite transmitters on several ospreys in cooperation with 
the KDFWR to determine the ospreys migration routes and exact wintering areas.  
Significant funding is still needed to make this unique new study possible.     
   
  On May 25, 2006 CCES with help from KEEP, Inc. participated in a virtual 
field trip from Alberta, Canada to South America as a part of International 
Migratory Bird Day-Americas Bird Trek (ABT) 2006.  This activity proved to be 
one of the world's most innovative combinations of Internet technology and 
environmental education.  Only a few schools including Caldwell County 
Elementary School were selected from the United States to directly participate. 
 Other schools involved included a Berkley CA. school and a New Jersey school.  
ABT is a celebration of one of nature's most spectacular events - the journey 
of migratory birds between their winter and summer homes.  The event was 
created to focus public attention on the
need for action to conserve birds and their habitats throughout the
Americas - North America, Mexico, Central America, and South America.  CCES and 
other participating students interacted live on the Internet with naturalists 
from Alberta Canada to South America.  The ABT coordinator stated that the CCES 
students had the most questions of the participating schools!  
   
  For the first time, CCES students saw and heard, live and interactively,
the lush green rainforest of the Andean foothills, Ecuador, the dry pine
forests of Sierra Gorda, Mexico, the sand dunes of Cape May, New Jersey,
and the mystical boreal woods of Alberta, Canada-places that the migratory 
songbirds in the backyards of CCES students have seen but not the students 
themselves! CCES students became aware that we all have responsibility to do 
whatever we can to protect the birds, their habitats, and the ecosystems 
wherever we live and where the migrants may need to go to the far north to nest 
or far south for winter to survive as a species.  
   
  To see Kentucky nesting bluebirds and ospreys on the Internet, CCES students 
and other Kentucky students in action and to learn how you may participate and 
help please visit the below web sites: 
   
  http://www.biology.eku.edu/KEEP.html     
http://www.biology.eku.edu/kybluebirds.html 
  http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/nestboxcam/
   
  Teacher and school environmental education project coordinator, Tammie 
Sanders, leds her CCES students at school and in the field. 
   
  Submitted by, 
   
  Ed Ray, KEEP, Inc. Founder and Director and Kentucky Bluebird Society, VP and 
Education Director   
   
   

 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com