Our students participate in ongoing scientific research by
monitoring the bird populations visiting our feeders through a
program called
BirdSleuth.
Many of our students have had their research papers and artwork
published in Classroom BirdScope. BirdSleuth and
Classroom BirdScope are sponsored by
Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
You can learn more about this project by visiting our
Student Reports page.
The TVA Bird Blind is listed as a Birding Hotspot on
eBird. John Gatchet,
former
Superintendant of the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Department of
Education (retired) and avid bird watcher, recently joined our students for a day of
bird watching. During John's visit on January 26, 2009 we observed 20
different bird species. John believes that our bird feeding station is
the largest in Washington County, and is comparable to the Audubon Society of
Portland's feeding station in nearby Multnomah County.
Built with recycled lumber in the fall of 1994 by students,
parents and friends of TVA, the bird blind provides a sheltered
place to study God’s feathered creatures. Over 40 of the bird species
identified on campus have been observed visiting our feeders. On cold days it is not
unusual to see more than 100 individual birds feeding at the same
time.
During the coldest winter months these birds can devour 80-100
pounds of seed per week! Your donations of birdseed mix,
sunflower, and suet are greatly appreciated by the birds and students alike.
Feed is needed September through May.
Please contact Mr. Kahler if you can help.
To learn more about how birds and scientific inquiry are
used in our science curriculum please see:
A
Science Program with Wings (PDF)
A
Science Program with Wings (Link)
Reprinted from Connect
Vol.15 No.1, September/October, 2001
BirdSleuth Inspires Student Inquiry
Connect
Vol.23 No.2, November/December, 2009 (PDF)
Sparrows and Development:
BirdSleuth helps students discover patterns
BirdScope, Summer 2008/Volume 22, Number 3
Students become “real scientists” through citizen science projects
Stemwire, June 19, 2013
Tualatin Valley
Academy students show, sell bird paintings at Cornell Lab of Ornithology
(The Oregonian)
Community Connections
Students compare their
bird data with data gathered from our Weather
Station. Our weather station is part of the
WeatherBug network featured on
KOIN Local 6.
Students named the creek behind our school to honor a pair of Downy Woodpeckers
that were thoughtlessly killed by someone’s BB gun during
Christmas Break 1995. Once the creek was named our students were
able to join the clean-up efforts of
Oregon
Adopt-A-River.
