Join the 2014 Great Wisconsin Oriole Count!
|
Dear Wisconsin educator, youth leader, naturalist, or home school teacher: We proudly present a new, easy activity that engages children in attracting, counting, and learning about one of Wisconsin’s most flamboyant birds – the Baltimore oriole. The Great Wisconsin Oriole Count entails setting up an oriole feeder using oranges and grape jelly, spending parts of two consecutive days in May observing orioles at the feeder, and reporting the highest number of orioles seen at the feeder at any one time. That’s it. Kids can learn about a lot of topics by studying orioles – flight, geography, migration, animal behavior, adaptations, you name it! Oriole Count educational materials will get them started. You also have the option to use the Oriole Count to raise money for Wisconsin’s Bird Protection Fund to support conservation work here at home and in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, where many of Wisconsin’s orioles spend the winter. If your school or group registers to participate by April 1, you will win a free oriole feeder for your school or group, donated by the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and Mequon’s Wild Birds Unlimited. Two teams will also win a birdwatchers bonanza worth $1,100 each: five pairs of binoculars, a spotting scope, and a tripod—donated by Eagle Optics. One prize will go to the school/group that raises the most money and a second winner will be selected in a drawing from all participating teams. Questions? Contact Alyson Douglas, Birdathon Coordinator at the Natural Resources Foundation of WI, at info@wibirdathon.org. Sincerely, Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin |