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Celebrating Urban Birds, Science, and Conservation.

July 26, 2019
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On a summer afternoon at Blackstone Square in the South End, a group of children were oblivious to the city hubbub of sirens and car horns on Washington Street. Instead, they were focused on the dulcet sounds and—and the sights—of birds frolicking throughout the park.

The kids, ranging from 5 to 12 years old, were participating in the fourth annual Celebrate Urban Birds event, a Cornell Lab of Orinthology bird-watching program that teaches children in underserved communities about nature, conservation, science, and data collection.

The collaboration with the School of Public Health and the Blackstone Community Center is led by Amparo “Chary” Ortiz, senior financial administrator in the Department of Biostatistics and a member of Blackstone’s board of directors, and by Anita DeStefano, professor of biostatistics.

“City life is always so hectic—I love that this event enables kids to stop and become aware of their surroundings,” Ortiz says. “Birds are part of our everyday life, and it’s great to be able to celebrate that connection each year with the children in my community.”

Participants became citizen scientists for the afternoon as they peered through spotting scopes and binoculars to identify and record all of the bird species they could see in 10-minute increments within a specific area of the park. The most commonly viewed bird? The tiny house sparrow—but the groups also observed American robins, common grackles, and European starlings, and even caught a glimpse of a bird feeding worms to its young.

The kids also had an opportunity to draw histograms to display the data they collected, as well as plant flowers outside of the center, and sketch pictures of birds and nature. Their bird data was added to the existing Celebrate Urban Birds data on the Cornell Lab’s website.

“I love birds, but as a biostatistician, I also love statistics and science,” DeStefano says. “These activities are a fun way to introduce children, and maybe budding scientists, to these subjects.”

To underline the importance of bird observation and data collection, she told the kids the story of the once-endangered peregrine falcon: In the 1970s, the species was no longer found in Massachusetts, due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT. The chemical was banned after scientists identified the problem and implemented a recovery plan, and now there are 46 nesting pairs of peregrine falcons in Massachusetts—including one pair that calls the Medical Campus home.

—Jillian McKoy

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  • biostatistics
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  • Environmental Health
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