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Tech-Savvy Birds

Activity

How Technology Helps Endangered Birds

How is technology being used to help endangered birds? Learn about one example of technology benefiting an endangered bird species. Bonus points for constructing an outfit that would prevent a rescued baby bird from imprinting on humans!

Science Seed

Scientists use a variety of different types of technology to study and help bird populations. Some of these include bird banding, camera traps, microphones and recorders, radios and satellite transmitters, radar and spectrograms. In the case of the endangered Whooping Crane, scientists prevented rescued hatchlings from imprinting on them by wearing puppets that resemble adult Whooping Cranes when feeding the chicks. Imprinting is what happens when a newly hatched chick attaches to its care-taker to survive and identify with its own species. Scientists and rehabilitators also taught the birds how to migrate by having them follow a small airplane!

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earn Badges

Badges can be earned through hands-on experiences within each of the 16 branches of science, or “Science Slices.” You can earn a badge in each branch of science by doing four activities in these categories. We also encourage participants to keep a Nature Journal to record their memories, and to express themselves creatively through writing or drawing after each activity. We recommend that each child (and parent if they’d like) write or draw in a journal after each activity, with expectations of your children that match their age (the goal is self-expression, not perfection).

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join Families in Nature

It is our vision to inspire all families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists. Becoming a member of Families in Nature will give your family the opportunity to have adventures in nature, experience field science, develop as youth conservation leaders, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Memberships are free for everyone.

Who are we?

Families in Nature works to create opportunities for nature connection with the purpose of sparking a deep love and desire to protect, conserve and restore the environment. Our mission is to connect children and their families to nature and to each other through time spent learning, playing, and volunteering outdoors. It is our vision to inspire ALL families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists.

This project was made possible by HEB.