How Homeschoolers Can Use Birdwatching to Explore Seasonal Shifts

Whether you live in a place that gets cold during winter or stays warm and sunny all year round, your homeschooler can learn from seasonal shifts by tracking the types of birds that leave, move through, or migrate to your area at different points throughout the year.

In fact, you can do more than just track the patterns for learning purposes. By entering observations on a site like eBird.org, your child can contribute to a world-wide data collection project that helps scientists learn more about where different species reside, migration patterns, and much more.

Birdsleuth.org offers several tips for using eBird to supplement your child’s education. Check out a summary of their suggestions, as well as additional resources your child might find helpful:

1. Create an eBird account. The only thing you need to start adding your information to the database is a valid email address.

2. Discuss the concept of citizen science, a term used to describe the practice of ordinary people collecting data for scientific use by industry professionals.

3. Learn to identify birds. Sites like Audubon.org and AllAboutBirds.org provide images, sound bites, and bird facts your child can use to identify species native to your area.

4. Collect your data. In addition to identifying the types and quantities of birds in your area, encourage your child to make note of the weather conditions and other environmental factors that might impact their activity. Depending on the age and ability of your child, you may want to accompany him or send siblings out in pairs until each child grows comfortable making observations alone.

5. Enter your data online. If multiple family members split up to make observations individually, compare results and condense them into a single document before submitting the data online. Then, log in to your eBird account and enter your information. Be sure to include any extraneous details, such as weather conditions, in the comments section.

Thanks to the effort of other birdwatchers across the globe, your student can also find a variety of useful resources on eBird.org, including photos and sound bites captured by other citizen scientists, interactive maps that detail where specific species live, and more.