While virtually every activity of the Robert Cooper Audubon Society has an underlying educational goal, some of our most important educational programs are aimed at children, youth, and university students.
BirdsNFeathers workshops
Birdsong ID workshop | Apr. 15 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Learn how to identify birds by their songs and calls. Birds are often heard, not seen, so being able to identify them by sound is important. Come to room 250 in the Foundational Sciences Building on Ball State’s campus for a workshop from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 15. Weather permitting, we’ll then walk over to Christy Woods, to try out our new skills. Free weekend parking is available in the parking garage adjacent to the building. Click to view a map.
Nerdy bird trivia | Apr. 29 | 12-1 p.m.
Join us in playing a fun game of bird-themed trivia and win fun prizes! Come to room 250 in the Foundational Sciences Building on Ball State’s campus for a workshop from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 29. Free weekend parking is available in the parking garage adjacent to the building. Click to view a map.
Fox Student Grant applications due March 31
Each year, graduate students who are conducting bird-centered research on species native to Indiana, including migratory species that breed in Indiana, are invited to apply for the Fox Student Grant. The grant, make possible through the generosity of RCAS members Josie and Geoff Fox, awards up to $1,500 for the purchase of supplies and/or support for travel and field research expenses.
Applicants must be graduate degree-seeking students from an accredited university or college. The research proposal must focus on bird species native to Indiana, including migratory species that breed in Indiana. Proposals for the study of habitat critical to the breeding and wintering grounds of said species will also be considered.
Applications are due by 5 p.m. on March 31 and submitted, via email, to RCAS president Annette Rose (rosenflowers@hughes.net). Download complete application details here.
The 2022 recipient was Tabitha Olsen, an M.Sc. student in biology at the University of Central Oklahoma. She is using the Fox Student Grant to support her research on rails, a vulnerable, secretive group of birds that rely on high-quality marshland habitat. Long-term monitoring of these birds has proven challenging to researchers and habitat managers.
Tabitha’s research is examining Clapper Rail, Eastern Black Rail, Yellow Rail, King Rail, Virginia Rail, and Sora across the Texas Gulf Coast with four different survey methods. The goal is to determine which methods will facilitate the most successful long-term monitoring of rails and, in turn, make recommendations for improved habitat management and monitoring.
Past recipients of the grant are Clay Delancey (M.S., Ball State University, 2016), Garrett MacDonald (M.S., Ball State University, 2017), Mary Woodruff (Ph.D., Indiana University, 2019), Lara Jones (M.S. Ball State University, 2021), and Ryan Leys (M.Sc., University of Waterloo, Canada, 2021).
RCAS Youth Conservation Scholarship
Each year, the winner of our chapter’s Charles Wise Youth Conservation Award receives a Robert Cooper Audubon Society Conservation Scholarship.
The scholarship may be used by the winners to fund an ecology project that they have designed or want to participate in.
Audubon Adventures
Local teachers of 3rd through 5th grades are invited to request Audubon Adventures kits. Each kit serves a classroom of up to 32 children and contains four nature- or conservation-related themes for each academic year.
If you are an educator or you know an educator who would like to use Audubon Adventures in a classroom, or if you’d like to sponsor Audubon Adventures for a classroom, please please contact either of our Education Co-chairs, Emma Dragoo (egdragoo@bsu.edu) and Emma Soderstrom (eesoderstrom@bsu.edu).
Past Education Programs
We’ve created and hosted many programs for children in East Central Indiana, introducing them to birds, other wildlife, and their habitats, often in collaboration with other local organizations.
Our Nature Play Days and our involvement with Nature Preschool Summer Camp helped dozens of preschool children learn about common bird species.
Our birding class and hike during Camp Prairie Creek—a free environmental day camp for youth, sponsored by Muncie Sanitary District/Stormwater Management—introduced 80 campers to local birds, habitat, and birdwatching.
We’ve brought in special speakers like Dr. Tom Sproat, a wildlife biologist from Kentucky, who let kids and their parents get a close-up look at live owls and hawks. Perhaps most important, in 2015, in collaboration with the Whitely Neighborhood Association, we launched our About Birds program. We distributed copies of Cathryn Sill’s book About Birds and binoculars to after-school programs in Muncie. Since then, we’ve continued to host periodic About Birds activities for kids at Cooper Farm and other locations.
Robert Cooper Audubon Society 