Subject Area: North American Birds

Topic I: Human Impacts on Bird Migration

Previous Knowledge:
-birds often collide with windows and die
-City lights disturb migration patterns
-Birds need rest stops
-Bird feeders help birds get through migration
-Fewer natural areas effect migration

Questions:
-What are the greatest human causes of bird mortality during migration?
-How can people help ease the stress of our impacts on bird migration?
-What are more issues that cause birds difficulty during migration?

Interest and Connection:
I voulnteer at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center where every spring and fall close to 5,000 birds are brought in to the rehabilitation center having collided with buildings downtown Chicago and have either been stunned, suffered an injury, or have died from the impact.  I am curious about how else humans affect their migratory journey, and how we can alleviate some of our impacts.

Audience:
Bird watchers, conservationists, and nature enthusiasts

Topic II: Wild Bird Rehabilitation

Previous Knowledge:
-Raising baby birds
-treating wounds and broken bones
-Requirements to being a wildlife rehaber
-The value of treating avian wildlife
-housing avian wildlife patients
-Feeding birds while they are being treated

Questions:
-What are the survival rates of released rehabed birds?
-How does rehabilitation effect the native populations?
-What are the requirements for releasing a bird?
-What are the requirements for keeping a wild bird in captivity?

Interest and Connection:
At Willowbrook Wildlife Center I volunteer working side by side with the staff veterinarian treating injured
wildlife; the majority of which are birds.  I have always been interested in birds and they face extra obstacles
surviving in a peoples world because of their ability to fly.  Because they can fly they suffer from injuries that
other animals don't, making them unique patients to treat. I would like to expand my own knowledge about treating wild birds in the rehab setting.

Audience:
Wildlife rehabers, people interested in helping injurted wildlife, and bird enthusiasts

Topic III: The impact of West Nile Virus on North American birds, and population recovery

Previous Knowledge:
-West Nile Virus affected bird populations in the Chicago area
-Crows and Blue Jays were particularly hit hard by the virus
-Populations are beginning to recover
-The virus effects some birds neurologically
-Spread by mosquitoes

Questions:
-Why did the virus cause birds to die?
-How are populations recovering?
-Why are birds susceptible to the virus?

Interest and Connection:
Crows have always been my favorite birds, and when West Nile Virus was new to the area I noticed a sharp decrease in the number of crows I saw around my house.  Even now, many years later, I see more crows but it seems to be a very slow recovery process. I would like to know more about the nature of the disease and how the populations are making a come back.

Audience:
Bird watchers and enthusiasts, Ecologists, Wildlife Biologists, and Ornithologists