My name is Jack. I am ten years old. My brother Ivan is five. On May 13th-May 14th, for 24 hours, Ivan and I will be counting as many different bird species as we can all over Massachusetts. We have been raising money for bird-a-thon for 2 years together. And I have been raising money for bird-a-thon since I was in Kindergarten. Last year we counted over fifty species of birds!!

Ivan and I both love birds. Ivan’s favorite bird is the red-tailed hawk. He’s good at seeing them before anyone else does. My favorite birds are osprey, bluebirds, and piping plovers. We belong to a junior bird club at Allens Pond in Dartmouth. We go on birdwalks in the spring and summer and fall. We go on owl prowls and we learn about migration and bird identification. We learn about their nests, their habits and their habitats.

To the right is a photograph I took last year of a marbled godwit that my dad and I saw on the beach. Pretty exciting!

I also love to draw birds. I have won a few contests for my artwork for the Massachusetts Junior Duck stamp contest. I enter that contest every year. This year I painted a common eider on the ocean with Acrylics.

With my mom, we monitor 12 blue-bird boxes. It is my fifth year doing this. Ivan has been doing it with me for two years. In the boxes we take care of, we have at least one, maybe two, bluebird nests right now. The bluebirds will be setting their eggs any day now. We also have tree swallows nesting in two of the boxes. This is something we love to do.

Please consider donating to help us reach our goal this year, to help the birds we love and to help protect their habitat.

I put in 30 dollars from my own money to start us out. Ivan put in five dollars from his piggy bank. Please consider matching one of us!

Thanks for your support!!!

Love, Jack and Ivan