Schoolyard Bird Blitz

Here’s how you can participate:

Register your school for the Schoolyard Bird Blitz

Learn about your local birds! The following ideas will help get you started:

• Knowledge Building Circle – Prepare for your bird studies by sharing classroom knowledge about birds. Pass around a feather or other bird-themed object for each student to share a word or topic about birds. Build and display your classroom bird word wall or organize into a mind map.
• Classroom Bird Experts – Choose a local bird species for each student to research for a presentation or display. Collectively, you will be a classroom of bird experts!
• Birds and Technology – Check out these great resources to assist with identification or research activities: Hinterland Who’s Who, All About Birds, iBird Canada App, Merlin Bird ID App, eBirdCanada.
• Bird Bulletin Board – Display bird posters, a sightings list, news items, bird facts, photos, and art on a school bulletin board. Share photos with other classes using the hashtag #BirdBulletinBoard!

Prepare for your bird count:

• Download your region-specific Bird ID Guide from Birds Canada. Print a card in colour, double-sided, for each student. You may choose to laminate the cards for use outside or subsequent activities.

• Print a Bird Tally form to record observations during your bird count.

• Encourage students to bring in field guides, binoculars, or posters from home to assist with bird identification.

• For extra bird expertise, invite any birding parents to help with the count, or connect with your local naturalist club for a volunteer.

Go birding!

• Choose any day in May to conduct your bird count.

• Bird counts can be as short as 15 minutes, or up to a full day.

• Designate one student to record group observations on the Bird Tally form.

• Travel around your schoolyard or neighbourhood as a large group, or separate into smaller groups. Try to reach all the different habitats that make up your schoolyard.

• Encourage students to be observant, using eyes and ears to find birds.

• Identify and count all the birds you see at your schoolyard or surrounding neighbourhood. Try not to double-count moving birds!

• Use the Bird Tally sheet to help keep track of your observations.