Category: Youth

Kids Bird Art Contest 2023

11/9/2023

by Environmental Education Specialist & Biologist Sirena Lao

Kids Bird Art Contest winners presenting their artwork. From left to right: Ivanka Singh, Audrey Papasin, Max Moyle. Photo by Jing Zhu

Each year, SFBBO hosts a Kids Bird Art Contest where we invite children ages 3-17 to spend time outside, observe birds in nature, and record their observations in the form of art and writing. With our renewed mission statement, we wanted participants to help promote a sustainable future for birds. We asked kids to create artwork reflecting a memorable experience they have had with birds in nature, do research about the threats birds face, and write about how people can help birds...

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Teen Volunteers Use Colonial Waterbird Data to Investigate Effects of Flora on Bay Area Birds

6/21/2023

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By Teen Volunteers Peter Covert, Lara Tseng, and Yunjiao (Grace) Xiao

A family of Snowy Egrets, including one visible adult, an adult hidden in the back, and four juveniles.

Snowy Egrets at Bay Farm Island. Photo by Ken Phenicie

Back in the days of the global shelter-in-place, Nani Welsh, a Science Outreach Intern at SFBBO, created a program bringing together the teenage volunteers at the organization. The idea was to foster a community for teens interested in bird science and conservation and provide mentorship and opportunities to work together through research and outreach projects. Nani reached out to us teens directly, inviting us to be a part of this new program. Virtually gathering together nine of SFBBO’s teen volunteers, we became the first members of the Teen Volunteer Program.

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Young Author Works to Protect Nature

11/9/2022

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By Guest Blogger Kelsey Sweetland

Every Saturday and Sunday morning, my family and I make waffles and play our favorite board games. We throw the doors to our forested backyard wide open and let the sound of the rustling oak trees, chirping birds, and warm sunlight filter into our house. We play games about space exploration, strategy, ancient civilizations, and much more. One day we bought a new board game called Wingspan. As we played, we learned about beautiful, colorful, and fascinating birds that live all around the world. This quickly became one of our favorite games, and we grew more aware of the woodpeckers, songbirds, and hawks living around us.

I have loved nature from as early as I could remember. ...

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2022 Kids Bird Art Contest

11/2/2022

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by Education and Outreach Specialist Sirena Lao

A young girl holding up her bird artwork

Kids Bird Art Contest Age 8-11 Category Winner Audrey Papasin holding up a print of her artwork at SFBBO's Annual Meeting on October 29, 2022

SFBBO's Kids Bird Art Contest is a fun annual contest where we invite kids ages 3-17 to spend time outside, observe birds in nature, and record their observations in the form of art and writing. This year, to continue celebrating SFBBO’s 40th Anniversary, we asked kids to recall a memorable experience with birds in nature and to create a drawing and written story reflecting that encounter.

We were incredibly impressed by the submissions! Many of the kids who participated demonstrated wonderful artistic skills and attention to detail, and many were also talented storytellers! We received 90 entries, and our judges loved seeing everyone’s artwork and reading the stories. We were happy to see that so many kids are noticing birds and have made meaningful connections with nature. Seeing that the next generation is inspired by nature makes us hopeful for the future of birds and their habitats!

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Busking for Birds - A Young Musician Makes a Difference

5/5/2022

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By Guest Blogger Allison Cheng

As bustling crowds rush from store to store and family and friends chatter away at their dinner tables, I set up my music stand, pick up my instrument, and introduce a new sound to the cacophony of Castro Street, Mountain View: the sound of my viola.

A few months ago, I began “Busking for Birds”—playing my viola on the street for donations that I raise for environmental nonprofits, including SFBBO. I’ve been playing violin for 9 years and viola for 5 years, and on the street, I play a ...

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The Golden-crowned Sparrow Project

3/1/2022

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By Guest Blogger Sierra Glassman

In late Fall, weary flocks of Golden-crowned Sparrows start to arrive at their wintering grounds across California. One location where the sparrows settle down for the cold months is the University of Santa Cruz Arboretum. This 135-acre garden is brimming with exotic plants, as well as California flora, from Australian cotton-candy-coned Woolly Banksia to native sticky-leaved monkeyflowers.

Professor Bruce Lyon and his graduate students have been banding Golden-crowned Sparrows at the arboretum for over 18 years. Through banding, they attribute behavior and DNA to individuals. The lab has published many studies on sparrow social behavior in conjunction with former graduate students Dai Shizuka, Theadora Block, and Alexis Chaine.

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Bird Photography Workshop Takes Birding to the Next Level

2/17/2022

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By Guest Blogger Alex Cho

I have been birding for about nine years and quickly realized how important photography was for me as a birder. Shortly after I began actively birding, I would get home and want to look at the birds I had seen in closer detail or note certain details. However, I often found that I had a hard time recalling so many different details, and there were also instances where I wanted to capture a particular bird or scene. That is when I realized how valuable photography was going to be for me.

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Kids Bird Book Recommendation - Crow Not Crow

2/8/2022

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By Guest Blogger Dudley Carlson

With the Great Backyard Bird Count almost upon us, there’s no better time to think about bringing the younger members of the family and the community into the community of birders. The way to start, of course, is to get them out of doors, or to put up a feeder where they’ll see it every day. But sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes a book can help.

Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple, in Crow Not Crow (illustrated by Elizabeth Dulemba, Cornell Publishing Group, 2018), begins with a girl who says, “My brothers all love to go out birding with Dad. They don’t have any trouble telling one bird from another. But to me, birds look pretty much the same – wings, beak, and legs.” Her dad knows better.

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Artistic Middle School Student Focuses on Bird Photography

2/3/2022

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By Guest Blogger Anastasia

I started birding early last year. Ever since then, birding has become one of my favorite things to do. Birds are always doing something interesting. Sometimes they are eating, flying, or singing. It is so wonderful knowing that every time I go birding, I am going to see something different. It could be a different bird, or a new behavior, but I know that it will be new and interesting every time. I enjoy both drawing and crocheting birds, and I just love birds in general. With my love of birds came a love of bird photography. Capturing fleeting moments with the push of a button (or in this case, a click of the shutter button) is super fun for me. With birds, they are literally ...

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Holiday Bird Book Recommendations for Kids

12/17/2021

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By Guest Blogger Dudley Carlson

The season of gift-giving, for me, is an excuse to think about each of the children on my mental list of family and friends. What are their interests? How have they grown in the last year? What would help to stretch their imaginations, their curiosity, their knowledge?

For the youngest on my list, one of this year’s books will certainly be Robin Page’s The Beak Book (Beach Lane, 2021). Oversized, detailed illustrations by the author show a variety of bird beaks and their uses, from straining (ruddy duck) and sniffing (kiwi) to prying (red crossbill) ..

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WINGBEAT BLOG

Kids Bird Art Contest 2023

Teen Volunteers Use Colonial Waterbird Data to Investigate Effects of Flora on Bay Area Birds

Young Author Works to Protect Nature

2022 Kids Bird Art Contest

Busking for Birds - A Young Musician Makes a Difference

The Golden-crowned Sparrow Project

Bird Photography Workshop Takes Birding to the Next Level

Kids Bird Book Recommendation - Crow Not Crow

Artistic Middle School Student Focuses on Bird Photography

Holiday Bird Book Recommendations for Kids

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