Celebrating Urban Birds with AveZona!

Photo © AveZona

In light of the Celebrate Urban Birds movement, AveZona in Venezuela has developed amazing bird conservation activities. Youth from the Marroquina Ecological Group (Grupo Ecológico La Marroquina) (GELAM) went birding in the Marroquina community in Yaracuy, Venzuela. The students were happy observing, identifying, and learning a little more about birds and their importance.

Thanks to helpful identification tips, binoculars, and nesting season, the children were able to see many birds.They learned how to carry an observation book, tips and tricks for birding, and how to use binoculars. Beyond the initial excitement of spotting birds, students looked forward to entering the data they had collected. In the pictures below, check out the efforts made by participants Francely P, Emily M, Eilyn M, Mariangel J, Jesus J, Darianna F, Sebastian M, Nilson M, Paola M, Cesar P, Mercedes S, Delvis R, Daniel S!

With help from artist Alejandra Romero Serva, a painter and illustrator, AveZona and the children painted a mural. All of the youth put their best energy in painting birds like the Chestnut-fronted Macaw (Guacamaya Maracaná) and Ara Severas, which can be spotted in and around their community. Some also drew and painted the Northern Waterthrush (Reinita de los Charcos) (Parkesia noveboracensis), a migratory bird that is common, but rarely observed, in the Marroquina community.

The wonderful programs of AveZona continued in San Pedro de la Isla de Coche (San Pedro Coche Island) during the month of April. It was hosted in the Centros Bolivarianos de Informática y Telemática (C.B.I.T or Bolivian Informative and Telematics Centers) where they designed their first BirdSleuth International workshops for teachers! The teachers came from different schools all over the Coche Island and learned about eBird, focal bird species, their habitats and much more. The workshop led teachers to become so interested in bird conservation that they teamed up to plan a Bird festival in the Coche Island! The festival will be held in October and everyone is very excited to be planning such an amazing educational event! The teachers also received the BirdSleuth educational curriculum, bird stickers, and a guide with links to all of the resources from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as resources and materials to use in their classrooms.