Physical Distancing STEM Break with Ms. Meghan: Festive Feeders

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!

I'll be pairing up Libby books for GPL patrons with STEM activities, live webcams, educational programs, and citizen science projects.

So, let's go check out some

Festive Feeders!

Migration season has started! Many of our favorite backyard birds spend their winters in Central and South America. Now that it's getting warmer, they're flying back to Illinois to raise their families. This is a fantastic time to set up a bird feeder, if you don't already have one, and start getting to know your feathered neighbors.

Read: 

There are a number of books about birds that you can borrow from Libby, including Animals in Flight by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page and Secrets of Animal Life Cycles by Andrew Solway.

Feed: 
You can have an adult help you set up a feeder and birdseed outside your window or in your backyard. If you're not able to, you can watch the Cornell Feeder Cam in Sapsucker Woods, New York. For something a little more exotic, you can watch the Panama Fruit Feeder Cam

Observe: Start recording what birds you see at your feeder. You don't have to watch at any particular time of the day, or for any set length of time. You'll begin to know the birds that call your backyard home. You can get help figuring out which bird is which with the Merlin bird guide.
If you'd like to take your observations to the next level, you can participate in Project FeederWatch. By counting on certain days and submitting your data, you can help scientists track migration times and population trends.