Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
For each of the last two years, Carolyn has worked with the DNR, Dane County Land and Water Resources Department, the Southern Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Lincoln Elementary to provide a field trip for Josie's fourth grade class on the Sugar River. The site is the County's Basco Sugar River Wildlife Unit #1, on STH 69, just south of Paoli and across the road from Basco.
Madison Audubon photo
The dry oak leaves rustled in the same wind that frosted their fingers. They listened to each other’s feet crunch, crunch, crunch in the crystallized snow. A quiet but powerful sound caught their attention; a low, echoing call, above our eyes and ears and fingers, resounded through Cherokee Marsh. Kids and adults alike closed their mouths and glued their feet to the snow to try and hear it again...
A patient group, they peered around at each other, wide-eyed with anticipation. Hushed gasps and little clouds of frosty breath emitted as all ears heard, “who cooks for you?”
Photo by Arlene Koziol
The elementary school kids at Vera Court Neighborhood Center are excited about a brand-new project they’re working on- their very own Field Guide! This semester they’re building their literacy and art skills by creating pages for their field guide. Each week the kids head off to a new park with a MAS educator and focus on exploring different subjects like birds, mammals, plants, and macroinvertibrates. They keep a careful list of everything they encounter, and the following week each student selects one organism to enter into their field guide.
Madison Audubon photo
Last summer Our summer educator, Olivia Sanderfoot, reached over 300 kids with our outdoor education programming! Wow! Many of those kids met weekly with Olivia, and were able to benefit from repeat visits and lesson content that built as time progressed.
This fall we are once again partnering with Vera Court, Bayview, and Salvation Army community centers. They’re all doing awesome things, but we’re particularly excited about our lessons with Salvation Army: the older elementary school students are mentoring the younger as everyone explores local parks. We’re hoping the older kids grow and shine with the added responsibility. At the very least, they’re excited about their new roles!
Madison Audubon photo
The weather is beginning to warm, little feet are getting muddy, and we’re gearing up for
spring migration and end-of-school-year field trips.
Face to face with Wilson, the MAS stuffed Great Gray Owl (Vera Court)
This Spring Madison Audubon is providing after school programming at three different community centers: Vera Court, Bayview and Salvation Army. Through these programs we helped underserved city kids learn about themselves through nature exploration. Highlights of these lessons include dissecting owl pellets with Vera Court, scavenger hunts and science-art projects with Salvation Army, and neighborhood birding walks with Bayview. We have about four more weeks of lessons with these kiddos before summer programming begins.
Education intern, Abe, shares a snapping turtle shell with students (Bayview)
Our Education Interns, Abe Lenoch (teaching at Bayview) and Olivia Sanderfoot
(teaching at Vera Court), are winning kids over with fun, engaging STEM lessons and cool animal facts. They are greeted for each lesson with huge smiles and stories about the birds, bugs, and wildlife that kids have seen since their last visit. We love watching Abe and Olivia grow as educators! They both have an undeniable talent for connecting with kids and making learning fun.
Lincoln Elementary students have been growing by leaps and bounds! They walked to Wingra Creek again, beating their old travel time by a whopping 20 minutes. They then compared their phenology findings from this trip to the last one taken in early December. These students have also been learning about the effects climate change will have on birds
and other Wisconsin Wildlife. Last week they completed our Carbon Cycle and
Greenhouse Effect lessons: big ideas for 4th graders!
Education intern, Olivia, helps a student ID mammal bones found in an owl pellet (Vera Court)
In April and May we are looking forward to taking several different school groups out
on field trips to local natural areas. Transportation costs are one of the biggest hurdles for
teachers taking kids on field trips. Because of you, we are able to provide free bussing to
kids who really deserve it. We will focus primarily on middle and high school groups from
underserved schools. These are the groups with the least opportunity to get out and
explore nature.
This work was made possible by you! Thank you for helping Madison Audubon
Society connect kids with nature!
