Educational Programs

We teach people how to support native bird conservation so that they can make a difference in their own backyards, businesses, and other parts of the community. We have advised and presented to students in schools, scout troops, community organizations, birding clubs, private businesses, and people who live and work nearby.

In our programs and events, we discuss habitat, cavity nesting, lifecycles, nesting behavior, adaptations, and migration. We also teach people what they can do to increase native bird populations.

Cassidy Greenwalt showing a nest box elementary school students as part of an educational program that she did for her Girl Scout Gold Award.

Nesting Education Kit

Volunteers use our Nesting Education Kit to give presentations, teach, monitor with groups, or host an event. The kit contains:

  • sample of real eggs and nests
  • a nest box
  • Eastern Bluebird poster by VBS (pictured below)
  • Native Birds of Virginia poster by Cassidy Greenwalt (pictured below)
  • A large format Nestbox Monitoring poster with a lift-the-flap Name the Nest game (shown below)
  • NABS factsheets on Monitoring Nestboxes and Nestling Growth
  • notebook with visuals of birds and predators
  • bag of “please touch” items that people can touch to get an idea of the size of eggs and nestlings
  • pipe cleaner and straw demonstrating how pin feathers form a sheath for feathers to grow through
  • Bird IdentiFlyer (a handheld device with cards that show the bird and plays the sounds of the birds call)
  • Audubon bird call maker
  • Pocket Naturalist to Eastern Backyard Birds
  • Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds
  • Peterson Field Guide on Eastern Birds’ Nests
  • In the Nest by Anna Milbourne and Laurence Cleyet-Merle (pre-K-1st grade)

Posters Available to Download and Print

Eastern Bluebird poster by Julie Zickafoose for Meadowlark Botanical Gardens and the Virginia Bluebird Society

Native Birds of Virginia poster by Girl Scout Cassidy Greenwalt

Exploring Birds Kit

ARMN members are also able to check out the Exploring Birds kit with two Birdsong players (called IdentifFlyers), Peterson Field Guides, and Binoculars. The Loaning Program is run by the Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation at Fairlington Community Center Room 132. It is open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 703-228-7635, dprlending@arlingtonva.us.

Lifecycle Videos

Here are two videos showing the inner workings of nest boxes from the parents making the nest through fledging.

The entire reproduction cycle of a Bluebird with days listed by Nest Box Live

Fun fact: While some people dye eggs for Easter, birds make some of the colorful eggs on their own. What determines the color of the egg? Green and blue eggs appear when the mother has biliverdin and zinc chelate in her system, and protoporphyrin produces brown and red coloring.

To request an educational program, contact us.