03x05 - Feathered Friends

[bunniefuu]

[Izzie] We need you!

[girls] ♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S

[Izzie] Come on!

[girls] ♪ When I need help and I've got a question ♪

♪ There's a place I go for inspiration ♪

♪ Got to get to the Web, check the girls' investigation ♪

♪ What girls?

♪ SciGirls!

Whoo!

[girls] ♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S

[Izzie] I need you!

[girls] ♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S

Come on!

♪ You've got to log on, post

- ♪ Upload, pitch in - Yeah!

♪ Want to get inside a world that's fascinating? ♪

♪ The time is right 'cause SciGirls are waiting ♪

[girls] ♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S

[Izzie] We need you!

[girls] ♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S

[Izzie] SciGirls!

Okay, what about a panther?

[Jake] A gazillion other schools have panther mascots.

We need something super awesome

to replace the Bakersfield Bigmouth Bass,

like the Bakersfield Bozos!

[laughs]

Ah!

[groans] No clowns ever.

Remember?

I know. I know.

But this is different.

A clown is perfect for a mascot.

Funny, totally inspiring...

Yeah. [laughs] If you say so.

And the best part,scary.

Well, it's definitely got that going for it.

Iz, this is the first time

students get to design our school mascot.

Any old thing won't make history.

Yeah, you're right.

We've got to think big

but maybe not clown-shoes big.

I know!

Anything could be a mascot:

an asteroid, fairy,

a stapler.

Stapler?

[sighs] Okay.

We desperately need inspiration.

Maybe the SciGirls can help.

[upbeat music]

♪

Huh. Mascot...

Uh, inspiration...

[gasps] Aha!

Maybe this one.

[upbeat guitar music]

♪

[Anayia] What I like about living in Denver is that

there's so many different places that look so different

but it's around the same area,

and all the mountains.

[upbeat rock music]

Science is one of my favorite subjects.

Like, in the morning, science is my first class,

so I will be so happy to get up

and be like, "Yay, science!"

[all] Work it, work it, work it. Fierce!

[Regina] My interest in science is nature.

I love animals.

And everything develops from something.

So I think that even little, small things

can change your world.

Like, for example, a smile can make your day.

♪

[Schuyler] I think Denver is a unique city because it really is natural,

and outdoor activities are a part of every person's life.

They have a saying in Denver, and it's,

"If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes."

[laughs]

♪

I love science because it explains everything,

and I think it's a really good way to spend time

and to understand your surroundings

and understand everything in this world.

[twangy guitar music]

♪

[Schuyler] We're here at the Denver Audubon Center,

and we're gonna be learning about bird banding,

and I'm really excited.

[Anayia] We set nets up close to their birdfeeders

so if they're gonna go get food,

we may be able to catch them in the net

and, like, band them.

We're able to track birds, where they move, where they go,

how old they are, but also track changes in their health.

[Anayia] Viviana's a ornithologist,

and she studies birds

and the different kind of species of birds.

First, approach them really carefully.

So the first thing that we free is the feet.

[girls] Aw.

[Regina] Bird banding-- just touching a bird,

it was, like, just amazing.

Touch the claw.

- Yeah, sure. - See?

[bird squawks] Ah.

[laughter]

[upbeat music]

♪

[Schuyler] We caught the birds in the net

and weighed them,

observed their eyes and their tails,

their legs, and all that different stuff,

and then we banded them

so that other scientists who found them later

could keep track of them also.

Let go.

[Regina] Giving him freedom

just feels really-- just wonderful.

What else can we do to learn more about birds?

So I was actually really lucky enough

to be part of a program

that's called Celebrate Urban Birds.

We actually find which species are where in the city

and how they're using green spaces,

and it helps scientists like me

learn about what habitat types and what green spaces

birds need in cities.

[Schuyler] Celebrate Urban Birds

is a citizen science project

where scientists are trying to keep track

of how birds use green spaces

in, like, our cities and nature.

[Anayia] Citizen science is good

because you get to help scientists like Viviana

collect data for scientists around the world.

Anyone can do this because all we have to do

is just go to a green space, like this,

and watch birds.

[Anayia] How do we get started?

[Regina] Yeah.

So the first thing to get started is,

we need to learn how to identify birds.

So we're gonna watch some birds at the feeder

and see what characteristics of each individual species

help us identify them.

- Cool. - So let's go.

[upbeat music]

[Viviana] So what we're gonna do is try to sketch

some of the birds that we're watching,

and then we're gonna compare our sketches

with the field guide.

You can take notes as well about what it was doing.

[Schuyler] We looked at their tails and their eyes

and beaks, shapes of the bodies.

All of those characteristics and features of the bird

tell you a lot about their species.

So to identify the birds,

we're gonna use some guides and some other tools to help us.

[Anayia] We got each other's sketchbooks

and looked through a bird book

an seen what bird we thought it was

and why we thought it was that bird.

I thought he was an adult male house finch

because he has, like, a brownish back,

and it has several, like, indistinct streaks.

So what species did you find?

[Schuyler] I thought it was the red-winged blackbird.

It has a streak of red on it,

and I could see that the tail was long

and outstretched from the body.

And we could look at that detail a lot more clearly

with binoculars.

So that's what we'll do next.

[upbeat music]

♪

[Viviana] So the first rule with binoculars is,

never search for something

while looking through your binoculars.

You will get dizzy. You will fall down.

Oh, there's-- A bird just flew.

- On that tree... - Oh, I see it.

Where the dead branches are, let's see what that is.

Now look at it closely

and look at all the characteristics

that we have been drawing and talking about.

What you'll see is, birders go like this

and then down

and then up and then down.

And so that's how you always keep track of the bird

and you will not get dizzy.

For Celebrate Urban Birds,

we actually only focus on species of birds.

Where would you want to go

and observe birds within the city?

[Regina] City Park.

Oh, I love City Park.

There's a lot of birds there.

City Park's more of in the city, so we might find

some different birds.

So I think we have a plan.

We have a time and a place to meet tomorrow.

Does that sound great?

- Yeah. That's great. - Perfect.

[upbeat music]

Hi. I'm Anayia.

This is my cat Handsome,

and he's really fat, but he was my first kitty.

This is Gorgeous, and she's ten years old.

I love having mismatched socks,

and my favorite socks are my moose socks.

Gymnastics is my favorite thing.

Whoo!

I'm a fish! I never get out of the pool.

♪

Bye!

[Viviana] The first thing that we have to do

is to define the area that we're gonna watch birds.

So we want to try to get some birds

that are also in the water.

[Schuyler] This morning, to start out with,

with paced our boundary marks,

adult steps by adult steps.

The next thing that we're gonna do

is fill out the information about the place that we're in.

[Schuyler] And then we answered questions

about where we were and environment setting.

How big is the overall place you selected in question two?

I'd say more than five city blocks.

- It's really big. - Yeah.

[Viviana]Great.

So what we're gonna do is time ten minutes,

and we're gonna try to identify all the birds

that pass within our defined area.

And even if they fly over, we can count them.

These are all the pictures of the birds

that we're interested in.

Each--look individually

and look at the birds all around,

and you can look anywhere

between our viewing area.

[Anayia] And...

[timer beeps] Now.

[Schuyler] When we were watching birds,

the weather was really cold and kind of misty.

It was not great bird-watching weather.

[Viviana] Oh, see, there's something flying up there.

[Schuyler] It would have been better if it were sunny and nice,

but, of course, that's always what I want.

[Anayia] Two, one, and we're done.

[Regina] No.

We can look over some of the birds

that we're unsure of if we saw or not.

And we're gonna try to identify them

with the guide and the Merlin app,

and we're also gonna write down some of the birds

that we saw around here.

There are so many that are interesting,

but they weren't necessarily within our viewing area.

So let's start with one of the birds that we--

that we saw.

[Regina] The barn swallow.

[Anayia] It was really small,

and it kind of just flew around.

It didn't really come down...

- It was really fast. - Towards the ground.

[Viviana] We're combining our observations.

We can say we definitely saw a barn swallow.

So what's another species that we're unsure that we saw?

- I think the rock pigeon. - The rock pigeon.

[Viviana] Let's try to see if it was a rock pigeon.

Let's start our ID.

What were the main colors?

Black and gray? Okay.

Black and gray.

- Like, maybe this big? - Yeah.

- Yeah. - This is what we thought.

[Regina] Rock pigeon.

[Viviana] And what we're gonna go do next

is fill out our data sheet,

and then we'll be able to enter the data on the CUBs website.

Should we go?

- Let's go. - Yeah.

[funky music]

♪

[Viviana] So we're gonna go and see some dioramas

so we can see some birds up close.

[Regina] The exhibitions here in the museum

gives you a clear idea of what we're looking for.

You can clearly see every detail.

Remember we saw the black-crowned night heron

from far away?

What do you guys notice now

that you're able to see it from close

that you didn't see from far away?

It's way bigger.

[Regina] Yeah.

So that's why museum collections help us,

because we're able to really see specimens up close

when we can't do that

sometimes in the wild.

[Schuyler] After we went to the museum,

we went to the office

and recorded the data that we got.

So this is kind of the portal for Celebrate Urban Birds,

and this is where we can explore the data,

where we enter data,

and we can look at maps of everybody else's data.

So we're gonna add a new bird-watching area.

[Anayia] After we got all of our information on the data sheet,

we put it into the CUBs website and filled in the questions

and all the information that we had.

So now we're gonna start putting our sighting info.

[Schuyler] For the American robin, no.

And then for the barn swallow,

we are positive that we saw it.

It was really easy to enter the data into the CUBs website,

even easier than just writing it down on the piece of paper.

Perfect. Now we submit our data.

[whooshing noise]

[Regina] What do scientists do with this data?

So I'm glad you asked,

because that's one of my favorite parts.

[Schuyler] Viviana showed us the program

that she had written to analyze all the data

in the CUBs website.

So the nice thing about programming

is that you're able to do everything you want

with your data, from maps to movies,

and it's actually pretty exciting.

So your data is gonna be part--

all your observations are gonna be part of the analysis.

Viviana is using this data

to figure out how big the green space has to be

in order for a species of birds to be there.

So should we make a plan to do the same thing tomorrow?

- Sure. - Yeah.

All right.

[Regina] It's a good practice to do several trials,

even with ice cream.

Like, if you like it, you have to try it

and try another one.

Yes, we have a plan,

and we'll meet tomorrow at the same spot

and the same time.

[Schuyler] It feels really good to know

that the data that we collected is being used by scientists

because it feels like we're, like, leaving our mark

and helping a bigger cause.

[funky music]

♪

What's up? I'm Regina.

This is my dog, and his name is Cirillo.

Ice cream is my favorite treat.

Here, you can have some.

I love soccer.

I love to dance to my tunes.

[upbeat electronic music]

I speak three different languages,

which are French, Spanish, and English.

I love reading.

Freeze. See you all later.

[upbeat guitar music]

♪

Today we went back to City Park

to do some more bird-watching.

[Schuyler] We did it alone this time.

So to start out with, we paced our boundary marks again

and then filled out the second page of our form.

We're ready.

- All right. - Okay.

For ten minutes, right? - Yeah.

[Schuyler] All right.

[light music]

[Schuyler] There's another one of those black birds.

[Regina] I think it's a barn swallow.

I think it's too big to be a barn swallow.

[Anayia]Yeah, 'cause barn swallows are really small,

kind of like that.

See, like, that's a barn swallow.

It moved really fast, and it was kind of small.

Oh, look at the gosling.

[all] Aw.

[Schuyler] Oh, my gosh. It's so cute.

All right, guys, time's up.

[Regina] What did you guys find?

I think we were definitely sure that we saw a barn swallow

because it was flying really fast

and it was a smaller size.

We definitely saw the mallard because it had a brown belly.

It had the green head too.

Then we shared our thoughts with each other,

and then we came to a conclusion and all agreed on it.

So we start filling our data sheet now?

- Sure. - Yeah. Sure.

[Regina] Did we see the house finch?

- No. - No.

Mallard? Yes.

- Yes. - Yes.

[Regina] The black-crowned night heron?

- Yes. - Yes.

[Regina] Perfect. We're done.

And then we met up with Viviana and talked about it.

- Hi, Viviana. - Hey, girls.

- How did it go today? - It went really well.

[Viviana] Did you see more birds than you saw yesterday?

- Yeah, definitely. - We did.

So now that you've gotten a chance

to watch birds in green spaces,

I created a quest for you

so you guys can have a chance to learn even more

about green spaces and what kind of things

we can find in there that help birds survive,

that help them live in cities.

Here are the questions that I came up for you guys,

and you're also gonna take some pictures, some videos.

So once you're done with your quest,

you're gonna create a Smartworks project,

which is a way for you to be creative

so you can actually communicate what you've learned.

I think a storybook would be really great.

Oh, that sounds like a great idea.

So here is your quest,

and why don't you guys go and get started?

- All right. - Cool.

- Perfect. - Let's go.

[wacky music]

♪

[laughter]

[Jake with British accent] A hummingbird: colorful,

soars like an alien hovercraft, flies super fast

and even backwards and upside down.

Whoa. Whoa!

[groans]

Oh, Jake.

Remember what we just learned

about the first rule of bird-watching?

Find the bird first.

Then look through your binoculars.

Whoa.

[chuckles] Oh, yeah.

I totally get the whole "You'll get dizzy

and fall down" thing now.

Let's go watch some real birds--

see if any others jump out at us.

Jake, what about a peacock?

They're colorful, big--

one of the biggest birds that can fly, actually.

And look--their feathers.

More like a million hungry eyes.

Ah!

So that's a no on the Bakersfield Peacocks.

Check out this guy:

the pink flamingo.

Pink, feathery, and just hangs out on one leg.

Says here scientists are still trying to figure out why.

Bizarre unexplained behavior--

huge point for the pink flamingo.

Yeah, and that color definitely stands out.

They love to be social, just like the Jakester.

[Izzie] And the way they stand on one leg,

it might not make the competition run away in fear,

but it's hilarious!

Check, check, and check.

Next step:costume!

[light music]

- All right. - This is really tall grass.

♪

[Schuyler] We're in Bear Creek Park for this quest.

[Regina] Our quest for today says,

"Document the different types of food, water, and shelter

available for the local birds."

[Anayia] Looks like it's pretty clean for the birds

to maybe bathe in it or swim in it.

- Yeah. - And drink from it.

[Schuyler] And also, the tall grass offers a good buffer.

Oh, this is a cool plant.

It could maybe provide resources,

food for the bird.

A few things that we've been able to record here

are the different kinds of birds

and what the environment is like

and how the birds adapt to the space.

[Regina] Look at this tall grass.

It looks like a really good shelter.

- For, like, birds and stuff. - Yeah.

Oh, guys, look. [gasps]

Oh!

[Schuyler] Well, we saw a nest on the ground,

and it was in tall grass,

so it was using the tall grass as protection.

There is a large variety of plants here--

everything that could make a bird happy, pretty much.

So first, we're gonna start out writing our entry

for the backpack, so, like, what birds we saw.

[Anayia] Black-crowned night bird and mallard.

So the mallards that we found were swimming in the water.

- Yeah. - Mm-hmm.

[Anayia] And then shelter...

A nest, maybe.

- Yeah. - Nest.

We're done. Zero questions.

Yay.

We did it.

Hi. I'm Schuyler.

I like basketball 'cause it's fun

and it's good exercise,

but I am still working on some tricks, like this one.

These are my skis. I really like to ski.

[b*ating drums]

I like board games.

In this skirt, I really like to spin and scooter.

So this is my scooter.

My favorite part about it is, like, the spark bling.

[upbeat rock music]

♪

After we collected all our data, we made a Smartworks project.

So let's create a storybook,

as we decided on earlier.

[Regina] I think it would be cool

if we did a Goldilocks story.

[Anayia] Oh, sweet.

We made a storybook about a mallard that's migrating

and going to different green spaces.

His quest should be kind of seeing

what features a good park should have.

[Anayia] We used pictures that we saw as other characters

like red-winged blackbird

and then the black-crowned night heron.

And it was really fun

because it kind of makes nature and, like, fiction

fun, come to life.

So cool. We finished.

- Cool. - Perfect, guys.

- Should we go print it up? - Yeah.

Tomorrow we're gonna share our Smartworks project

with some students from Lowry Elementary.

They have a really good summer program

that actually helps out with a garden.

I attended Lowry Elementary for seven years,

from preschool to fifth grade,

and it was really fun gardening

because they have a variety of plants.

Maybe we can bring them, like, a gift

that would help both the birds there and the garden.

Here are some plants that the CUBs gave us,

like the coneflower, the chokecherry,

and the sunflower.

We can decorate the pot

and come up with ideas of how to decorate it.

So we are decorating the pot

with a bunch of nature-related things.

[Regina] I'm doing the sun.

And then here, I did a sunflower.

We are going to share the book with Viviana,

and then we're going to Lowry Elementary School.

So what I would like the kids to take away

of our research,

I want them to know how to love nature

by just taking care of it, don't pollute it.

I'm really excited about teaching boys and girls

about this project.

[upbeat guitar music]

[Viviana] There are a lot of different things

that I like to do for fun.

I like to go biking.

I really like to go camping

and just taking the time to enjoy nature

and be outdoors.

So this is the Poudre River in Fort Collins,

and it's right in the middle of town.

There's a robin singing.

So my best science or work moment

was when I was in graduate school

at Cornell University.

And I just remember graphing my results at last,

and then seeing that published work

was one of my greatest moments

that I said, "You know what?

"It is worth it, and you just have to be more patient

until sometimes you see results."

I love to watch the sunset.

As soon as the sun goes down, I jump so I can see it again.

[light guitar music]

♪

[Anayia] Today we came to the neighborhood elementary school,

and we helped in the garden,

and we actually picked some fruits.

[Schuyler] How about we put all of our fruit together

so we can all rinse them?

- Yeah. Perfect. - Yeah.

[Anayia] It was really fun to come back

and see the other kids that were here.

One, I can see the changes that they've made to the building,

but, two, I can see how some of my friends

that were younger than me have grown up.

[Schuyler] Here, you guys. Pass them back.

[Anayia] After we ate some fruits,

we read our book.

We've been working with an organization named CUBs,

and CUBs stands for Celebrating Urban Birds.

- And our mentor, Viviana... - Hi, guys.

[Anayia] Helped us watch birds and collect data for scientists.

And we actually submitted some data online.

[Regina] After doing our quest, we made our book.

It's named Mighty Migrating Mallards.[/span]

Mike the mighty mallard was not happy with his home.

His nest was too small, the noise was too loud,

and the water was too dirty.

So he decided to travel around and see how some friends

like their green spaces.

[Schuyler] When Mike asks Betty what she loves about the park,

she answers, "I love the tall grass

and how it provides shelter and protection."

Mike then asks, "What don't you love about the park?"

She responds, "I don't like how noisy the highway is."

Roger says, "I really like how clean the lake is."

[Anayia] Once Mike returns home,

he improves his habitat by adding buffers,

such as tall grass and rocks,

to block pollution and noise.

Now Mike the mallard is so glad that his home is just right.

The end.

[applause]

I think that they learned that, one, you can participate

in something like CUBs anytime,

and, two, you can make your green spaces healthier

by doing the littlest things.

Today we decided to give you guys this big pot

and some plants to go in it

because we really wanted to make the birds feel welcome.

[Anayia] And we also have a pledge on it.

It means to make our green spaces healthier for birds

and appreciate our nature that we have in the world.

So do you guys want to sign our pledge?

[children] Yeah.

[Anayia] You can have red or green or blue or yellow.

[soft music]

[Schuyler] I think they really liked doing the flowerpot and the pledge

because it was kind of a hands-on activity,

and I thought it was cool that they got to sign the pot too.

I'll hold these, like, above the surface kind of,

and then you guys could put dirt in it

so that we could bury the roots.

[Regina] All of us together, we plant three native types of flowers:

the sunflower, the chokecherry, and the coneflower.

- Good job, guys. - Nice teamwork today.

- Yeah, high five. - Cool.

- Whoo! - Whoo!

[Anayia] After we did the gardening project,

we kind of looked at it and were really proud of what we did

and the flowers that we planted.

What was the take-home message

that you wanted all of us to have?

You can just improve little things

to make a big difference.

[Viviana] And so tell me a little more

about your pot.

This turned out beautifully.

[Schuyler] "Nourish seeds to make them count."

Well, seeds could be anything, from ideas or just even people.

So you have to put good work

and a lot of effort into them

to make them do great things.

And green spaces can be anything

from one sunflower to this community garden

to the parks that we're at,

and it's really nice to bring together a community of people

and that you guys were able to share that experience

and to promote healthy green spaces

for both people and birds.

I just want to thank you for helping us.

Yeah, and I really loved holding the birds.

So now I feel more, like, secure around them.

Yeah.

Thank you for just teaching us.

I loved spending the week with you guys.

The most fun thing that we did in the study

was definitely band birds

'cause we could catch them and feel them breathing.

It was really cool to have

such a fragile little organism in our hand.

[chuckles]

It feels really good to be able to say

that my data is on a website that scientists look at

all the time.

[Regina] What's good about citizen science,

it's, like, the best opportunity,

just imagining a sixth grader

helping big scientists that, like, maybe have PhDs.

This week was one of the best weeks

I ever had in my life.

♪ It's cold in here

♪ There must be birds in the atmosphere ♪

♪ I said

[all] ♪ Oh-ee, oh-ee, oh

♪ Ice, ice, ice

Go, birds!

[squawking]

Birds!

[laughter]

[Izzie] Everyone, give it up

for Bakersfield Middle School's new mascot,

Birdie the big Bakersfield bird!

[cheers and applause]

We're the Bakersfield Birds.

That's right, we're pink.

We're fighters. Ah!

We never blink.

We're wild. We're weird

We're on a winning streak.

And when we win, you'll hear this from our beak.

[both squawking]

[cheers and applause]

[all] ♪ I said, birds Hey, there. Hi.

The SciGirls website is mobile.

You can set up a profile, play games,

watch SciGirls videos on your tablet or smartphone,

and find a fun citizen science project near you.

So come on.

Be a SciGirl on pbskids.org.

See you there! Bye!

[girls] ♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S