Winter Robin Round Up
Thanks to everyone who reported the robins they spotted wintering in their region this February. Students at Valders School in Wisconsin are now preparing a summary and will share it with you in early March.
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Robin Migration
Get your robin migration map ready! The reports are beginning to come in.
Remember, we're waiting for you to report the FIRST robin you see to:
Be sure to include these three things: 1) The date 2) Your city and state or province 3) Your global address (your latitude and longitude)
This week's robin reports:
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 02:39:37 PDT From: "Terry Mills" <jakay@cln.etc.bc.ca> Subject: First Robins!
Robins started appearing in our area the week of February 8 - 15th. We also have worms! We live in Vancouver, British Columbia. The map reading for this city is Lat. 49o N and Long. 124o W (approximately). The South West Coast of Canada experiences the mildest winters in all of Canada so these are probably some of the first robins reported from Canada. Are we right? Thanks for letting us be a part of Journey North!
Terry Mills and Jamie Kay (mum and homeschooler respectively)
====================================================== Rachel Carson Challenge Question
"Who was Rachel Carson and what did she say about robins?"
Terrific answers arrived from the students below over the past 2 weeks. Thanks for doing such good research!
From ALASKA: Mrs. Click's Fifth Grade North Pole, Alaska bgrfcgc@northstar.k12.ak.us
After a lot of searching and analysis of several articles, our class (Felicia to be exact) came up with the fact that Rachel Carson was a biologist who predicted the use of DDT was killing the songbirds of America by effecting their reproduction abilities. We downloaded information from several sources and read some passages from Silent Spring and discussed the meaning of the title of the book as well. Our "token" robin is on the map just waiting to move northward!
From MINNESOTA: Callie and Brooks Hale School Minneapolis, Minnesota 0001hel@InforMNs.k12.MN.US
Rachel Carson was an author. In her book, Silent Spring, she wrote that to millions of Americans the season's first robin means the grip of winter is broken. The survival of the robins is linked to the American elm tree. The trees are sprayed with DDT. The worms eat the leaves. The worms are then eaten by the robins and they die.The DDT gets passed along the food chain.
From WISCONSIN: Onalaska Middle School Onalaska,WI 54650 kinda@mail.onalaska.uwlax.edu
Hi my name is Rachel Newton. I am a student in Onalaska,WI. Here is a challenge question answer I think is right. 1. Rachel Carson was a scientist and an author. She noticed that the egg shells of robins were very thin. She belived this was due to poor environmental conditions. I'm working on more info! See Ya!
From NEW YORK: Mrs. Berger's Class East Hills School, Roslyn, NY K12ROBZJ@vaxc.hofstra.edu
This is what we found out about Rachel Carson. We used a book titled, "Liberty's Women". A Veronica search did not result in any information we could use.
Rachel Carson was a biologist and author. She had a deep interest in the natural world. She wrote, "Under the Sea Wind", "The Sea Around Us", "The Edge of the Sea", and "Silent Spring". She examined the growing use of chemical pesticides and herbicides that endanger the natural ecological balance. We have been unable to locate any references to robins, but we think it might be in the book, "Silent Spring." We hope some other class will be able to share that with us.
From MISSOURI: Vena Nichols Missouri JUDITH_R@mail.hallsville.k12.mo.us
Rachel Carson is an American biologist and writer. She noticed that people were spraying the elm trees for disease and that was also killing the robins.
The poison (DDT) is sprayed on the trees. That means on the leaves too. In fall the leaves fall to the ground where worms eat (decompose) the leaves. In the spring the robins eat the worms. The robins get poisoned through their food chain-leaves to worms to the robins.
From MINNESOTA: Garlough Elementary St. Paul, Minnesota 0197gel@InforMNs.k12.MN.US
Hi. My name is Marc Wolfson from Mrs. Mueting's class in West St. Paul, Minnesota.
Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907 in western Pennsylvania. She spent a great time outsdoors with her two dogs. She noticed that one day a robin dropped suddenly from a branch in her woods. They were too heartsick to hunt for other corpses. All of the birds died horribly, and in the same way. They died because of chemicals (DDT). 0831fvel@InforMNs.k12.MN.US
Rachel Louise Carson was a writer and marine biologist. She was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania. She was born on May 27,1906. Her interest in nature began at childhood. because she observed the living things around her.
She is the author of Silent Spring a book in which she warned that pesticies were poisoning the environment.
She graduated from Penn College for women in 1929 and received her masters degree in 1932 from John Hopkins University in 1932.
Six years after her death (April 14, 1964) the U.S. Government honored her by naming a coastal area in Maine Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. St. Louis Park, Minnesota sue_dewit@hopkins.k12.mn.us
We found out that peticides poisoned the food supply of animals and killed large numbers of birds. This was addressed Rachel Carson in her book Silent Spring.
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