Enter the "Spooky Birds" Contest!

This is the latest environmental challenge from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Celebrate Urban Birds citizen-science project in conjunction with the Encyclopedia of Life website. They call this contest "A Murder of Crows and Other Spooky Bird Tales." A large group of crows is called a "murder," but there’s nothing really scary about it. Crows are very intelligent and family-oriented. Sometimes birds do things that seem pretty spooky and strange, so for this challenge, they want you to take photos, do a painting, write a story or poem, even shoot a video showing crows, starlings, an owl, or any bird doing something puzzling or strange to you. Then they can reveal what the behaviors are really all about. Often a perfectly natural, non-scary explanation! There's a PDF flier about the challenge you can print for yourself or pass along to others who might want to participate. As always, they have some great prizes, including binoculars from Eagle Optics and Alpen, birdfeeders from YourBirdOasis.com, CDs, books, posters, and more. The first 50 entrants will receive a poster by Pedro Fernandez showing various behaviors of crows, jays, and other birds. They'll post selected images and videos on the Celebrate Urban Birds website. The very best will be included in species account on the website for the Encyclopedia of Life! How do you enter? Email your entry to urbanbirds@cornell.edu. 1. Write "AMOC_YourFirstNameLastName_state" in the subject line. (Use the two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the photo was taken.) 2. Include your name and mailing address in the body of the email. 3. Tell them why you submitted your entry to the challenge. What's the story behind it? 4. If you are submitting a visual image, attach it as a .jpg. 5. One image per entry, please 6. Read terms of agreement. 7. If you agree to the terms, send in your entry before October 31st! Visit the Celebrate Urban Birds website for more information.

Unpcoming RIF events

The Barefoot Storyteller is proud to be part of two wonderful events coming this October.

RIF, in partnership with Readers Digest, presents October 3rd as Make It Matter Day, a national volunteer day of reading, writting and learning. Visit The Barefoot Storyteller for an upcoming schedule of my events related to the day.

On October 8th, readers around the world will attempt to break the world record for the largest shared reading experiance in history. Children and adults will read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Visit Read For the Record for more information, and visit The Barefoot Storyteller for an upcoming schedule of my events related to the day.

RIF turns 43!

On November 3rd, 2009 RIF turns 43! Come celebrate with The Barefoot Storyteller! Please visit The Barefoot Storyteller's main site and see the Reading and Book Exchanges page, under the "New Books for Free" heading to learn more about The Barefoot Storyteller's free books program.