Meeker World Migratory Bird Day

Need to identify a bird? Ask a current or former Meeker Elementary School student. They’re likely to know more about local birds than the average adult, thanks to 15 years of cooperation between the Meeker Elementary, Barone Middle School, the Blanco Ranger District and wildlife biologist Mary Cunningham.
“It’s my favorite time of the year,” Cunningham said. For the last 15 years she has directed educational programs for fourth through eighth-graders centered around Migratory Bird Day. Students view a PowerPoint presentation related to the year’s theme, fourth graders compete in a coloring contest, and individual sections of each grade go on a two-hour bird watching field trip with Cunningham, starting at the school and culminating at Circle Park. This year’s conservation theme is “Year of the Bird.”
Cunningham said the groups typically identify 20-30 species by sight and sound, using auto-focus binoculars that give students a chance to see the birds up close. In 2007 the district received a “More Kids in the Woods” grant to purchase 25 pair of the binoculars, and have been awarded another grant to buy 25 much-needed replacements this year.
New this year is a pilot program with Meeker High School biology students to study the long-term trends of breeding bird species in and around Meeker, and to assist with the elementary school field trips.
Last year Meeker Elementary School and the Blanco Ranger District received an award from Environment for the Americas, the parent organization that hosts World Migratory Bird Day for their support of bird conservation education. Cunningham was awarded the Educator of the Year award at a reception held at the Amazonian Gallery of the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C.