Tapestry of Faith: Creating Home: A Program on Developing a Sense of Home Grounded in Faith for Grades K-1

Faith In Action: Audubon Bird Count - Long-term

Part of Creating Home

Activity time: 60 minutes

Preparation for Activity

  • Go to the National Audubon Society website to learn about the century-old Christmas Bird Count that takes place each year between December 14 and January 5.
  • Contact the National Audubon Society via the website or by phone to find a local Christmas Bird Count that the Creating Home group can join as volunteer bird watchers.
  • Contact the local organizer of the bird count to make specific plans for the group to participate.
  • Generate and distribute a permission form for the children to travel to the bird count location and participate in the activity.
  • Recruit parents or other adult congregants to join in the bird count and/or to help with transportation.

Description of Activity

Children are learning that wild animals build their own homes for specific functions. Involving your group in a local bird count sponsored by the Audubon Society engages participants more deeply in bird “lifestyles” and habitats, while reinforcing the Unitarian Universalist principle of caring for our Earth

Each year, the National Audubon Society conducts a national Christmas Bird Count. This bird count is done at different times across the United States in the last month of the year. The bird count helps Audubon Society keep track of where bird populations are changing and where research needs to focus.

To find out when and where near your congregation the next bird count will be, go to the Audobon Society website and do a search for “bird count."

Children are usually welcomed on the bird count, as long as enough adults accompany them. Your local Audubon Society may have specific rules about children.

Instead of or in addition to attending a bird count, the group may be able to help your local Audubon Society promote the Christmas Bird Count. The children could make posters to display or flyers to distribute about the bird count.