[birdky] interesting bluebird project

My wife Janet teachers 3rd grade at Cub Run Elementary in Hart County. Last 
summer she went to an environmental educators' conference, where she heard 
about the Ky Bluebird Society. Ed Ray, from the KBS, got her five bluebird 
boxes, which she set up around the school yard. Then she ordered a nest cam box 
which has a camera mounted on the ceiling of the box.  It is wired to the 
school.  It allows students in all classrooms to view the inside of the box by 
turning to channel 3 on their classroom TV. They also have audio.
Then the fun started. A pair of bluebirds courted and started a nest. (Since 
the box is outside their classroom window, they can look outside for an 
external view.) The female completed the nest and laid four eggs over several 
days. Last week they hatched, and now the parents are busy feeding the young. 
As you can imagine, the students love it. They are researching bluebirds 
specifically and birds in general. When a pair of tree swallows started 
building in one of the boxes, they brought in feathers for them ( a preferred 
nest lining.) Another box has chickadees. Janet bought a swiveling mirror on a 
stick from an auto supply store to aide in viewing the contents of the nests. 
Once a week she takes them outside to check on nests. Ed's boxes are designed 
for easy opening and inspection.
Some of the kids started recording the frequency of parental visits to the 
nest, and then they decided to record visits per hour. On Thursday the highest 
number was 24 parental feeding visits in an hour; this occurred during the 
early afternoon.
The class also won some prize money from a project they created for a Clean 
Kentucky contest. Janet bought a classroom set of kids' binoculars. They are 
4-power and seem to work very well for that age level. The kids can't wait for 
their periodic birding trips around the school yard.
She tells me there are a number of nestcam projects around Kentucky. If that 
isn't science education, I don't know what is.
Steve K
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