BirdSleuth Caribbean at Bassin Zim

On 8 Dec. 2017 I took my Eco401 class (Biodiversity, juniors) to the waterfall Bassin Zim (near Hinche) so that we could have an ecology program for the children that hang out there. These kids don’t go to school, but instead hang out at the park to earn money helping visitors (see past blogs here).  I take my Eco201 class (freshmen) there to practice bioassessment of the watershed, and wanted to do something different their junior year that would help them learn some teaching techniques, and in turn help the kids at the falls. So we did some BirdSleuth Caribbean activities that we previously practiced in class.

There were 13 university students, plus me and the interpreter, and there were 15 kids (ages 6 to 16?), so after a short introduction about ourselves and the importance of birds, we paired up for the Bird Habitat scavenger hunt.  We then played the bird habitat game in which a ‘bird’ needs to find food, water, shelter and space.  My students and the kids bonded a bit, and stayed together as pairs when we had free time to explore the park.  My students shared their food with the kids.  One of my students found a tiny snake, and did not kill it!  Huge victory for the snakes of Haiti!