New Grant Funded by the Green Mountain Bird Alliance
By Adam Weiss
The Green Mountain Bird Alliance has awarded a grant to the Young Birders Club at Camels Hump Middle School to support a student-led effort to reduce bird collisions with the school's windows.
Guided by club advisor and science teacher Sandy Fary, the students collected and analyzed data to identify the four school windows where bird strikes occurred most frequently. Their research provided the foundation for a practical conservation project aimed at making the building safer for birds.
"These young ornithologists want to protect birds in our community," Fary said. "This opportunity allows them to be community scientists by collecting the data, taking the next step of identifying solutions, and now implementing a plan of action."
The grant will fund the purchase of bird-safe window decals designed to make glass more visible to birds and significantly reduce collisions. Installing the decals is the culmination of a thoughtful, data-driven project led entirely by the students.
During a recent visit with the club, it was clear that the students understood both the importance of the data they had collected and how it directly informed their conservation efforts. Their enthusiasm and commitment to protecting local bird populations made this project an excellent fit with the Green Mountain Bird Alliance's mission of bird conservation, and we are proud to support their work.
As the installation continues over the coming months, the project will not only help make the school safer for birds, but will also provide students with ongoing opportunities to participate in meaningful conservation work, demonstrating how scientific inquiry can lead to tangible improvements for wildlife in their own community.
“Yesterday we started putting up the feather-friendly dots. Here are a few photos. My colleague and I plan to start a 7th and 8th grade service learning club to be able to have more students engaged in this long-term project. Based on how yesterday went, we anticipate this project extending into the fall and next spring.” -Sandy Fary