Today we started a Waddell spring tradition – bird watching! Third grade is lucky to have a partnership with Boxerwood Nature Center and they have placed six nesting boxes around the school. Building on the pilot program of last year, “Birds for Thirds” engages two schools (Waddell and Central) in weekly monitoring of new, school-cited blue bird trails. Both trails were funded by a grant Boxerwood pursued from the Virginia Ornithological Society. The purpose of the project is to engage students in authentic field-based investigations while also nurturing in them a passion for wild birds and their conservation.
Boxerwood is overseeing the project in coordination with third grade teachers, the grantors, and volunteers from the Rockbridge Bird Club and Rockbridge Master Naturalists. At Waddell, the weekly leader is Pete Hamel, who is also District Interpretive Ranger for the Blue Ridge Parkway. This season Boxerwood is also piloting live birdcams on three middle school campuses for similar purposes (funded by the Virginia Bluebird Society) We are still in the ramping up stage with the birdcams, but expect at least two to be operational by next week. We’ll have links to share to those webcams at that time as well as link to a Nest Box website created to house information about all these local projects: stay tuned!
Boxerwood is overseeing the project in coordination with third grade teachers, the grantors, and volunteers from the Rockbridge Bird Club and Rockbridge Master Naturalists. At Waddell, the weekly leader is Pete Hamel, who is also District Interpretive Ranger for the Blue Ridge Parkway. This season Boxerwood is also piloting live birdcams on three middle school campuses for similar purposes (funded by the Virginia Bluebird Society) We are still in the ramping up stage with the birdcams, but expect at least two to be operational by next week. We’ll have links to share to those webcams at that time as well as link to a Nest Box website created to house information about all these local projects: stay tuned!