Fourth graders at Ross School have been studying endangered California birds for several years in conjunction with STRAW (Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed) and ornithologists from PRBO (Point Reyes Bird Observatory). While many people in the San Francisco Bay Area are interested in the life of birds and the conservation of their habitat, in rural Mexico there is no such culture. Mexican children often practice their aiming skills by killing birds with slingshots, and pajareros catch birds to sell them to be eaten or put into cages for purchase. Many birds fly a long way to spend the winter months in a warmer climate, only to come to a sad end at their destination in the Sierra de Tapalpa. Of course, habitat destruction and other factors play a large part in endangering songbirds in the United States.
Our project was born out of the idea to give Mexican children binoculars and digital cameras to “shoot” pictures of birds, instead of shooting them with slingshots. Besides helping to sensitize kids to nature and the need to preserve and protect it, this project also offers an opportunity for a friendship and penpal program between the schools. The students at Ross School take Spanish three times a week, and this penpal project is helping to give their language study new meaning and utility, and to enrich their understanding of the longstanding, close relationship between the cultures of Mexico and California.
This is a pilot project, and hopefully more schools will participate in the future.
These are some of the migratory birds we have been studying this year.