School visit tomorrow

[COUNTRY CAPITAL]

good luck mr fox....
woo hoo... 17 aviaries can we come for a look too?

[E Orix]

One of our members in the Geelong area has done wonders with students at the school he is at.
They have been funded to create an avian exhibition and the work being do it extremely good.
It is a credit to he and his students.
It is such a success he should give Di a small article for the news letter,it would be well worth the read.

[finchbreeder]

Di, that sounds like an invitation to call E Orix and request he get an article from that guy.
But good on anyone who encourages the young to learn about birds. Parents, Grandparents, neighbours, friends, teachers, all can foster the love of birds. So lets all go to it.
LML

[Diane]

Well done Mr Fox, a great cause to champion.

Di, that sounds like an invitation to call E Orix and request he get an article from that guy. LML

On the trail now, and the best part is they will have a full, complete, whole month to put pen to paper...or fingers to keyboard.

[E Orix]

I would like to thank finchbreeder and Mr Fox as I have already received a request from our editor

[mr.fox]

Thanks everyone. We survived and had no escapees (birds that is)
The kids were all very interested in the birds and aviaries, as were the parents and teachers. All pretty well behaved too. I didn't even have to put out the lollies and biscuits!
Like I said, I was very worried about escaping birds because i don't have a second doorway on the big walkway( housing finches and bourkes.)
I gave a short talk on how pleased I was to see that the kids were taking and interest in nature and the environment, and that I hoped that at least some of them will become the environmental scientists, wildlife researchers and birdkeepers of the future. I hope that if even 1 kid goes home today with that seed planted, then it's all worth it, after all that's how we all started. I made the point that they had probably not seen most of the species in my aviaries before and that they were unlikely to ever see them in the wild and the important role captive breeding can play in preserving a species. The kids were given info sheets showing a pic of each species, its distribution map and a short write up on its habitat etc. It was good to see most of the kids using the guide to identify the different species, even if they were only the more obvious ones. The difference between the Hooded and Golden-shouldered parrots caught everyone out.
I would like to see more aviculturists take up the educational role. Aviculture is going to be a very different place in years to come and already too many of us keep our knowledge &ideas to ourselves. E orix, would you be talking about Mr. Pace? Gee if we could have his passion what a better thing the world of aviculture could become?

[spanna]

Great work mr.fox!!

My first ever pair of finches were a pair of painted firetails (with blue rings, I remember clearly!!) from the husband of my sisters grade 2 teacher. I was only about 7 at the time, so 15 years ago now. Educating kids is very important, and I have also followed the work of the teacher over east working with his students on the aviary in their school, excellent idea. My primary school had a similar idea, but the aviary was very small, and was inside one classroom, so the birds never did well. Plus, the teacher never listened to the care/breeding instructions I gave, I don't think the birds lasted overly long. I've also given a number of spare cockbirds to my younger cousins, but they're at the "computers/girls/sport" stage of their life, so they only have one left now. Mind you, it's a painted cock that is at least 7 years old... At least they've looked after it well!

When the day comes, I think a donated aviary and mixed collection of finches are definitely on the cards for my kids school. But that's a few years off yet!

[ColouredFeathers]

Well done Mr Fox in talking to the kids about Aviculture
and glad it went well for you.
cheers flavio

[matcho]

Mr Fox,

Well done!

[maz]

I think saying kids arent interested is wrong especially primary school kids, all my children's friends love looking at my birds and regularly ask them about them, teenagers are maybe a different matter but at a young age kids are still kids and animals of all sorts are always a drawcard