Connecting children to birds
The Young Birders’ Workshop 2025 brought together curious children from across India, each adding their own spark to our shared learning. From naming invented birds to observing real ones, their enthusiasm, questions, and deepening connection with nature reminded us why bird education matters. What a delightful journey it’s been!
ವೈವಿಧ್ಯಯಮಯವಾದ ಆವಾಸಸ್ಥಾನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ರಾಜ್ಯವು, ಅದ್ಭುತವಾದಂತಹ ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಪ್ರಭೇದಗಳ ನೆಲೆಬೀಡಾಗಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಸುತ್ತಮುತ್ತಲು ಕಂಡುಬರುವ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಹಕ್ಕಿಗಳನ್ನು ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಪರಿಚಯಿಸುವುದರ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ‘ಕುತೂಹಲಿ’ ಎಂಬ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯ ‘ಹಕ್ಕಿಯ ಗೂಡು’ ಎಂಬ ಅಂಕಣಕ್ಕೆ ಹಕ್ಕಿಗಳ ಕುರಿತಾದ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಅರ್ಲಿ ಬರ್ಡ್ ತಂಡವು ನೀಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಕಂಡುಬರುವ ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಪ್ರಭೇದಗಳು, ಅವುಗಳ ನಡವಳಿಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅವುಗಳ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಮೋಜಿನ ಸಂಗತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಹೆಚ್ಚು ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳ ಬಯಸುವ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಇದು ಬಹಳ ಪ್ರಯೋಜನಕಾರಿಯಾಗಿದೆ.
Padma Gyalpo is a bird guide and tour operator from Leh, Ladakh. Nature education wasn’t on his mind when he first started exploring wildlife in Ladakh around 12 years ago. He believes that children need to be taught about the important roles birds and other wildlife play in an ecosystem in a practical, hands-on way.
Ready to test your bird knowledge in a fun way? We’re happy to bring you this series of online quizzes and will try to publish one every month. Try out our new Birds on Currency Notes and Stamps quiz! Let’s see how many you can get right!
Kobita Dass Kolli is a nature educator and independent researcher based in Hyderabad. She wants to connect children and adults to the natural world, particularly plants and their amazing lives despite them being rooted to one spot. She has worked at Titan as a watch designer for 6 years and freelanced in watch and identity design for 4 years.
Joyshree Gogoi is a nature educator from Assam. She was a fellow of Green Hub and initiated Green School, through which she introduces children to nature through creative activities, storytelling, and outdoor exploration, in Gobuk, Arunachal Pradesh. Through her educational work, she hopes that children learn about nature and start thinking about it.
Dhaval Vargiya is a nature educator from Gujarat. By engaging communities in birdwatching and nature education, he hopes to cultivate a sense of wonder and curiosity about the natural world. He organizes hands-on bird identification walks and workshops, and has also developed various resources for nature education.
On 15th and 16th February 2025, the second phase of these walks was planned in 8 cities: Bengaluru, Dimapur, Halol, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Ranchi, Trivandrum, and Ujjain. These walks coincided with the Great Backyard Bird Count 2025 (Feb 14-17), a global community science event held annually in mid-February.
Shonali Chenzira is a practitioner of nature-based education from Bengaluru. She has led initiatives that span themes, landscapes and critical issues and is inspired to pursue immersive, interactive and action-oriented biodiversity education. She hopes to not only inform, but move people to act, change and keep hope alive, for everybody’s sake.
Inquiry-based learning is an educational approach that taps into our natural curiosity. It’s a question-driven process where learners actively engage by asking, exploring, and discovering. The practice supports learners as they build upon their knowledge—while also encouraging critical thinking, creativity, and a deeper understanding of the world.