STUDENTS GET A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW IN CONTINENT WIDE MIGRATION STUDY.

Byline: Jennifer Hamm Staff Writer

BURBANK - Two mornings a week, Kristine Chinn's fifth-grade students count birds in the school's backyard.

The Jefferson Elementary youths are at work on more than a class activity - they are a part of a major continentwide bird study.

Wedged between the school's bungalows and the residential neighborhood across the street, sits a garden of native California plants where more than a dozen species flock. At the center is a feeder that attracts the birds.

The children wait patiently for the birds to hover and watch through binoculars pressed against their eyes.

After a few minutes of observing, Chinn asks the students for a count.

``I've got two mourning doves,'' 10-year-old Matthew Lau calls to his teacher.

Chinn takes down the count on a clipboard and asks, ``Any finches today?''

``I forgot what finches look like,'' Matthew answers.

``Look it up,'' Chinn responds, referring to a book she assembled that's filled with colored photos of the birds her students are likely to see.

The exercise takes only 15 minutes on Monday and Tuesday mornings, but the lessons the students learn go far beyond developing an ability to name bird species' and helping Cornell University with its study, Chinn said.

Since she began participating in the university's study called Project FeederWatch four years ago, Chinn has been able to teach students about the food chain and the complex ecosystem right in their schoolyard.

For example, when a hawk flies in for food, Chinn talks about whether it's fair for bigger birds to eat the smaller ones.

Perhaps the most important lesson the students learn, however, is to become good observers, Chinn said.

Students who hone their skills in observing birds, begin to observe all facets of life, she said.

``When you're a child, you're observant. When you're an adult, you're no longer observant,'' said Chinn, who is an avid bird-watcher. ``If you bird-watch, you continue to develop that skill.''

Chinn's students may not be able to articulate the lifelong skills they're building through bird-watching, but they like they project.

``It's cool,'' said Matthew, a Burbank resident. ``You get to see birds you never saw before.''

When the students tally up their weekly bird counts, they submit the information via the Internet to the university.

The Jefferson Elementary students are among 13,000 participants in the United States and Canada. Many are students who are also discovering bird-watching for the first time. Some are private citizens who just enjoy bird-watching.

The data are then used to track bird migration and populations patterns throughout the continent, said Andre Dhondt, director of bird population studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Over the past 12 years, the study has been the basis for several influential, ground-breaking findings in bird research, Dhondt said.

And the university has found student bird-watchers are just as credible as long lovers of the hobby.

``They tend to be extremely careful. They don't want to make any mistakes,'' Dhondt said. ``The students are extremely dedicated.''

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3 photos

Photo: (1 -- 2) Students at Jefferson Elementary School in Burbank catch a glimpse of a finch, right, and a scrub jay, left, during the study.

(3) From left, fifth-graders Vanessa Martinez, Matthew Lau and Bobby Deeb use binoculars to search for birds on Tuesday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer