Year of the Bird

​Are you celebrating Year of the Bird at your facility? 2018 marks the signing of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, one of the oldest and strongest pieces of legislation protecting wildlife in the USA. Year of the Bird is being coordinated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, Birdlife International, and National Geographic. Big events you can celebrate are International Migratory Bird Day (May 12) and World Bird Day (October 13), International Vulture Awareness Day (September 1), plus you can host or encourage participation in Hawk Watch counts in the fall, the Great Backyard Bird Count (February 16-19) and Christmas Bird Counts which take place in December.

There’s a Year of the Bird Network on Facebook for your organization’s coordinators to join and you can register your organization on the BirdYourWorld.org website as a partner, where lots of other resources are available, too. We’ve also been loading resources right here on the Raptor TAG website (RaptorTAG.com/YearOfTheBird) to celebrate birds (especially raptors!) all year long! Check out the monthly theme calendar to get started.  

If you’ve got some great activities or lessons you’d like to share on the TAG Education, IVAD, or YOTB pages, we’d love to see them!

​Don’t forget to use the hashtags #BirdYourWorld and #YearOfTheBird. 

What activities are you planning this year? Comment below! 

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