I may play around with a series of posts about apps for iPhone and iPad. Calling the series “app-etizer” for now. Cute, huh?! When I attended ASCD, I went to a session about apps. More than anything, the session got me thinking about a series of posts like this for sharing an app and an idea for how to use in “21C learning.” Also, my iPad 2 has arrived…I migrated without a hitch, and I am just playing to learn…and learning to play.

So, I downloaded “Wildlab Birds.” It is free…I am cheap. We have a bird feeder outside our dining room French doors, and we have gotten into some very novice bird watching. Because we live on campus, the only house we own is at a Georgia lake, and it provides some superb birding as well. Third, I am a big fan of Clark Meyer, and he can make birding seem pretty cool. Anyway, we bought a book for bird identification. But, we cannot figure out how to get the book to play audio (sorry…couldn’t resist).

But Wildlab Birds has easy ID capabilities, and the birds’ songs are available. Also, through GPS, my sons and I can submit that we saw a particular bird, and we contribute to a scientific community tracking bird range and sightings. Last night, in Augusta, I played the song of a tufted titmouse, and three called back to the iPad. I am already dreaming of a naturalist outing at Westminster. We have almost 200 acres, and Clark assures me we have some interesting species and migrations across campus. Oh the places we could go…and the field studies we could explore and create!