Martha Barriga

Mantoani

Living Earth

5/13/23

From birds to egrets

In January I attended a stem presentation about birds and the environment. The

presenter Scott Jennings introduced himself and his background. Scott Jennings has

had a fond interest in the environmental sciences especially animals ever since he was

young. He also told us that he was part of a group in San Francisco that studied

ecology. I think that was so amazing because he is able to do what he loves as a job.

After that, he began to talk about the ecosystem. I could tell this topic was important

because he seemed very interested and passionate about it. His example was birds and

how they are affecting the ecosystem. Many birds have been going extinct recently. He

said that they look for birds and study them. They study their homes, predation patterns,

and mating life. Something interesting was the nest egret project he explained

Like I said I really enjoyed his presentation. Some presentations I’ve been to lack

something that he had which was real interest. I also learned a lot about this topic which

I never knew about before. I think birds are very interesting creatures and it’s

devastating to hear that many are dying. I do believe that one of the reasons is because

of hunting. Something I found in common was him was his love for animals but other
than that I don't think we had much in common. He really liked the environmental

sciences which I am not a big fan of myself but I do find it very interesting. I think it was

a great learning experience for me because sometimes we don’t go over these topics in

school or at home.

Audubon magazine article by Lauren Leffer

6 Unexpected Ways Birds Are Important for the Environment (and People)

https://www.audubon.org/news/6-unexpected-ways-birds-are-important-environment-and-people

This article by Lauren Leffer tells us 6 ways birds are important to us and the

environment. Something that I read that surprised me was that their poop is fertilizer, I thought

cow poop was the main fertilizer. Something also important is that they're like exterminators and

get rid of pests without unnatural chemicals. The article mentions Barn Swallows that are able to

consume up to 60 insects an hour. I found this to be very impressive, and It reminded me about

of differential survival and the food cycle which I recently learned about in class.They also can

make their own nests which is very impressive. Birds can also spore-spread because theyhave

their own fungi which helps in keeping forests nice and healthy. Spore- spreading wwas not a

topic I was very familiar with but this article helped be more interested in it and learn about it. In

conclusion, birds are very important to us and our environment, they contribute daily which is

very helpful.