Educational Materials

Contents

Summary of bird educational opportunities in Alaska [pdf file 122k]
The Arctic Nesting Shorebirds Curriculum
Alaska Landbird Bibliographic Database
Bird Checklists for Alaska
Bird Songs of Alaska Audio Guide
Bird Song Master 2.2
Birds in Hand and Field
Boreal Forest Songbirds of Alaska - An Interactive Education Unit
Environmental Education Outreach: "Migration Migraine"
A Guide to Bird Education Resources, Migratory Birds of the Americas
A Manual of Selected Neotropical Migrant Birds of Alaska National Forests
Songbird Blues
Shorebird Sister Schools Program
Wildlife Radio Spot Scripts
The Arctic Nesting Shorebirds Curriculum
This curriculum has activities, field trip plans, cultural exchange ideas, and background information designed to teach students in grades K-12 about the ecology of arctic nesting shorebirds and the wetlands they depend upon. It includes a teacher's guide, shorebird field guide, and posters. One unit helps classes become part of the Shorebird Sister Schools Program (see below).
Available through:
Circumpolar Press
P.O. Box 1125, Homer, AK 99603
$22.95
Alaska Landbird Bibliographic Database
This is a searchable bibliography of all literature on the landbirds occurring in Alaska. Unpublished reports as well as published literature are included. The bibliography is updated on an annual or semi-annual basis. A copy of the database is available for use in PROCITE.
Available through:
Steve Matsuoka
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management
1011 E. Tudor Rd., Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 786-3673; ;steve_matsuoka@fws.gov (e-mail)
Bird Checklists for Alaska
Checklists on the occurrence and seasonal abundance of birds are available on this website (http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/chekbird/bigtoc.htm#AK) for the state of Alaska as well as many of the regions, parks, refuges, and forests within the state.  Various checklists are also available for the rest of the United States.
Bird Songs of Alaska Audio Guide
Leonard Peyton's Bird Songs of Alaska is a two disc CD collection of vocalizations and sounds from more than 260 species of birds found in Alaska. This audio production, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's world-renowned Library of Natural Sounds, is the most comprehensive collection of bird sounds available for the state. This is a must for anyone wanting to improve their ability to identify Alaska birds by sound.

Because the CD features vocalizations not found on any other audio guide, researchers conducting studies in Alaska or other places where many of these birds are found, will find the guide indispensable.  "Serious birders anywhere in North America will find the shorebird vocalizations especially helpful, as the birds make key migratory stop-overs on their way from their Alaskan and high arctic breeding grounds to their winter areas in South America," says Greg Budney, curator of the Library of Natural Sounds.  Casual listeners will simply enjoy the voices of birds from Denali National Park, Tongass National Forest, the Aleutian Islands, and other faraway places where many of the recordings were made.

Birds Songs of Alaska follows closely on the heels of another recent Library of Natural Sounds recording, Bird Songs of the Rocky Mountain States and Provinces, which is receiving high praise from the nation's top birders and is proving very popular with the general public as well.  Samples from both of the new audio guides can be heard at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's web site http://birds.cornell.edu.

Available through:
Alaska Bird Observatory
P.O. Box 80505, Fairbanks, AK 99708
(907)907-451-7059; (907)907-452-6410 (fax);  birds@alaskabird.org (email)
ABO web site: http://www.alaskabird.org
$25, plus $2 for shipping (call for shipping rates for larger orders).
Bird Song Master 2.2
This PC-based software program is designed to test your ability to identify birds by sound. Users can challenge and improve their identification skills by using this software in conjunction with National Geographic Society Guide to Bird Songs CD or Peterson Field Guides Eastern/Central and Western Bird Songs CDs. Customized versions compatible with Bird Songs of Alaska Audio Guide CD are available.
Available through:
Gary A. Schumacher
Micro Wizard
5277 Forest Ave., Columbus, OH 43214-1305
(614)846-1077
Birds in Hand and Field
 This is a 16 page education manual of activities designed for youths K-7. It includes activities developed for use before, during, and after students visit to a banding station.  The manual includes information and activities on bird migration, collecting and examining banding data, and the purpose of banding birds.
Available through:
Colorado Bird Observatory
13401 Piccadilly Road
Brighton, CO 80601
(303)659-4348
CBOeducate@aol.com
Boreal Forest Songbirds of Alaska - An Interactive Education Unit
This is an interactive workbook and teaching unit for K - 6 grades that promotes conservation of migratory and resident birds in Alaska's boreal forest. These materials are designed to promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills related to boreal forest songbird populations of Alaska. The Boreal Forest Songbirds of Alaska teaching unit has six chapters. Each chapter includes a student page and three activities. Topics covered in the unit include songbirds, bird adaptations, the boreal forest, bird research methods, and bird conservation. A companion Songbird Activity Book for students includes illustrations of a hawk, a falcon, and 18 songbirds along with descriptions of each bird, a field checklist, a key for coloring birds, and activities using the species pages as a reference.
Available through:
Alaska Bird Observatory
P.O. Box 80505, Fairbanks, AK 99708
(907)907-451-7059; (907)907-452-6410 (fax); birds@alaskabird.org (email)
ABO web site: http://www.alaskabird.org
Environmental Education Outreach: "Migration Migraine"
Project Wild's "Migration Headache" was adapted for all migratory birds that travel to Alaska, with special emphasis on neotropical migratory birds. This is an interactive game where students become different species of migrant birds (complete with a photo-identification tag) and face the rigors of weather, habitat loss, and pollution as they embark on fall and spring migrations. Prior to each migration, habitats are altered, destroyed, or enhanced to illustrate how natural and human caused factors can affect bird populations. Each student represents a population, using easy-to-manipulate numbers, so the total numbers of birds reaching nesting or wintering grounds can be recorded on a graph through several migration cycles. Geography, math, bird identification, and conservation biology are the main disciplines involved.
For more information contact:
Ruth Gronquist
Bureau of Land Management-Northern District
1150 University Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907)474-2377, (907)474-2282 (fax); 
rgronqui@ak.blm.gov (e-mail)
A Manual of Selected Neotropical Migrant Birds of Alaska National Forests. Written by T. H. Pogson, S. E. Quinlan, and B. Lehnhausen. Edited by E Campbell and N. Andison.
This manual reports on the ecology, status, and conservation of neotropical migrant birds that regularly breed on lands managed by the USDA Forest Service's Tongass and Chugach National Forests. Twenty-eight species of concern are identified and detailed accounts for each species are presented. Each species account includes information on taxonomy, distribution, breeding habitat, nest characteristics, breeding biology, food habits, abundance, population trends, conservation, and habitat management. Also included is an annotated list of literature on the conservation, management, and biology of migrant birds. Information is presented in a loose-leaf format to facilitate additions and revisions.
Available through:
USDA Forest Service
P.O. Box 21628, Juneau, AK 99802
Songbird Blues
This teaching kit includes a large array of educational materials used for instructing students in grades K-6 about neotropical migration and the drastic declines of songbirds from habitat loss. It includes a teacher's guide, books, magazines, posters, student research kits, videos, cassette tapes, a felt storyboard, puppets, and scripts for dramatic skits.
Available for purchase through:
Montana Natural History Center
1617 Roland Ave., Missoula, MT 59801
(406)543-6886
To borrow this kit in Alaska, contact:
Alaska Resource Library and Information Service
3150 C Street, Suite 100
Anchorage, AK 99503-3916
Phone: (907)272-7547
Fax: (907)271-4742
http://www.arlis.org
Wildlife Radio Spot Scripts
This website (http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/ro/educators/) includes the text from radio pieces on Alaska birds.  The scripts were developed by biologists from throughout the state and are available for use in the development of new radio shows.

For more information on educational materials and opportunities, please contact our Information and Education Chair:

Tricia Blake
Alaska Bird Observatory
P.O. Box 80505
Fairbanks, Alaska 99708
(907) 451-7059
birds@alaskabird.org

Alaska Science Center - Biological Science Office

Last Updated: January 23, 2006