BIRD STUDY MERIT BADGE CLASS

Saturday September 22, 2007 - 9AM - Plainsboro Preserve

 

Interested in the fastest-growing outdoor activity in America?

 Bird Study Merit Badge is easy and a lot of fun!  With a little pre-study, you’ll complete most, if not all, of the requirements in this one-day class.

 

The New Jersey Audubon Society’s Plainsboro Preserve will host a Bird Study Merit Badge class on Saturday, September 22, 2007.  Instruction & demos will be from 9AM to 12 PM, followed by a bird walk ending at 3 PM.  If we don't see 20 species on our walk, Scouts will be able to complete the badge on their own or at free morning bird walks on any other weekend.  The course is limited to the first 24 Boy Scouts who submit their forms with a $15.00 non-refundable registration fee.

 

Directions to New Jersey Audubon’s Plainsboro Preserve:

From US Route 1, take the Scudder’s Mill Road exit. Follow to the fifth traffic light (Dey Road). Make a left onto Dey Road and head east for about 1/2 mile to the first traffic light (Scotts Corner Road). Turn left onto Scotts Corner Road. Follow for about 1/4 mile past the Community park on your left. The preserve entrance will be on your left. Turn into the entry gate and follow the entry road back to the parking lot on your right.  (More info can be found at http://www.njaudubon.org/Centers/Plainsboro/)

 

How to participate:

Mail the completed registration form with a fifteen-dollar check (payable to New Jersey Audubon Society) to Plainsboro Preserve, 80 Scotts Corner Road, Cranbury, NJ 08512 by September 8, 2007.  If you have any questions, call the preserve at (609) 897-9400. Class is limited to 24 pre-registered Boy Scouts, who have completed the pre-work below:

 

MANDATORY PRE-WORK BEFORE CLASS (about three hours of reading)

1.       Completely read the 1999 or newer printing of the Bird Study Merit Badge pamphlet.

2.       Learn the field marks of these local birds from a field guide before class:

Double Crest. Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Mute Swan Canada Goose Mallard Turkey Vulture Osprey Bald Eagle Sharp-Shinned Hawk Red-Tailed Hawk American Kestrel

Peregrine Falcon Wild Turkey Killdeer Sanderling Laughing Gull Herring Gull Common Tern Rock Dove Mourning Dove Great Horned Owl Eastern Screech Owl Downy Woodpecker

Red-Bellied Woodpecker Northern Flicker Tree Swallow Blue Jay American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Red-Eyed Vireo

Yellow-rumped Warbler Northern Mockingbird Northern Cardinal White-Throated sparrow Song Sparrow Dark-Eyed Junco Red-Winged Blackbird Common Grackle House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow European Starling

If you observe any birds before the class, record them in a notebook as shown in requirement five.  They will count!

 

Bring the following to class:

q       A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America by Roger Tory Peterson  

          (borrow a copy from your public library if you can't afford your own)

q       A good pair of binoculars

          (the absolute best ones you can borrow, ideally 7x35)

q       Suitable hiking shoes, clothing and equipment           

          (see Boy Scout handbook pages 204 & 207)

q       Bird Study Merit Badge Pamphlet (1999 or newer Edition)

q       Merit badge application signed by Scoutmaster.

q       A clean, empty one gallon plastic milk jug

    (will be made into a birdfeeder with the scissors)

q       Small spiral notebook in a zip lock plastic bag

q       Two pencils

q       Pocketknife

q       Bag Lunch

q      A Clean, Empty one gallon milk jug

q       Large Scissors (for cutting milk jug)

q       Small backpack

q       Water Bottle

q       Raingear