For the past several years, leaders of the Friends of Forsythe urban bird environmental education program George Morgan and Les Murray have been working with students at Pleasantville, NJ public schools at Leeds Ave and Washington Ave through after-school projects. Friends of Forsythe is a non-profit organization devoted to supporting the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey through a variety of education, conservation, and community involvement programs.
Once a month, George and Les, affectionately known as ‘the bird people’, would visit both schools and go on observation walks with students, recording what CUBs focal species they saw and teaching the kids about the ‘Bird of the Month’. Using the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s coloring book, students explored the features of common birds in their area, and they also learned about important habitat needs for urban birds. As you can see from photos of the bird-watchers and some of the letters that students from the Pleasantville schools sent to ‘the bird people’, participants in the after-school program really enjoyed learning about birds, and especially using binoculars!
