Honors Biology Service Learning Project: eBird

All freshmen at Lane Tech will complete a Service Learning Project in Biology class. A passing grade of this project is required to fulfill one of the CPS Service Learning Project requirements, which you can read more about by visiting the CPS Service Learning site. For this project, you will be observing birds in your community and recording your observations in a field journal. Then, you will submit this data into eBird for further analysis.

Overview: You will be observing birds in your community and documenting the number and species you observe in our field journal. You will then submit your data to eBird for further analysis, and evaluate conservation plans for birds in your area.

About eBird

In 2002, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society launched eBird, an interactive database that enables bird watchers to record observations from their expeditions and build personalized lists of the species they have encountered. These observations, in turn, become part of an aggregated dataset that researchers can use to: estimate the abundance of a bird species in a given region, track migration patterns, document long-term changes in bird numbers, build hypotheses about how human impacts affect species populations, and much more. The results have been used to create management guidelines for birds, investigate the effects of acid rain and climate change, and advocate for the protection of declining species. Students will also use the Merlin Bird ID app to help with species identification.

Materials:

· Field Journal (Task 1 only- on Google Classroom)

· Merlin Bird ID app (free on Android/Apple phones) to identify birds during your observations – Task 1 only

· eBird.org (for Tasks 2)