Birds of Kilcoona

St. Cuana's selection by Galway County Council and the Galway Education Centre to be part of the Galway County Birds programme was a recognition of the school's contributions to the advancement of environmental science over the last 5 years.As part of the innovative 'Fionn' Primary School Science initiative in the period 2002-2005, we produced a number of important child-centred science documentaries on a range of environmental themes including school gardening, hedgerows and the Kilroe river.

So for the final Fionn movie, we decided to choose the 'Birds of Kilcoona' as our theme.
In the footsteps of St. Cuana

The patron saint of our parish St. Cuana would have been proud of our present interest in wildlife. For he was noted for his love of animals. One famous legend tells of a wild deer and her hind coming up to him without showing any fear. It is said that the saint kept the deer as a pet for the rest of its life.
Though the parish of Kilcoona is dramatically changing with ever-increasing housing development, nevertheless it is still a rural area distinguished by fields, hedgerows and wetlands.
Bird Table for our School Garden
The project began with a visit by Dáire O hUallachain who taught us a lot about the life of birds including what they eat, where they live, how many eggs that lay and how they can actually fly. He also gave us a large Bird table which we erected in the school garden. This was great as it allowed us from our school classroom to observe the comings and goings of the different types of birds at they ate the food that we left for them.

Watching out for Birds in KilcoonaOur teachers took us around our parish where we could see birds living on trees and in water. We saw blackbirds, crows and thrushes flying around. We also saw swans on the local river.

The teachers asked us to collect birds feathers and empty nests that had fallen from trees or bushes. These items were brought back to the classroom for further study.

Making Eggs

the class studied the different colours, shapes and sizes of the different bird types. We then made our own eggs out of paper and colour paints.
Building Homes & Planting Trees for Birds
Trees are very important for birds. They act as secure areas where the adult birds can build nests so they can lay their eggs and keep their young ones safe while they fly away to hunt for food. But the trees also provide the food itself- insects as well as the worms found in the ground nearby.
So teachers had us plant trees in the garden that someday will grow big enough for the birds to live and feed on.


Where do Birds Come From?
As part of our project, we read books about the origins of birds. We found out that the first birds appeared 150 million years ago and were descended from dinosaurs and reptiles.

Drawing &
Painting Birds

Sometime later, the artist Lol Hardiman came to our school. He taught us how to draw birds by using circles and lines. As you can see from the photograph, we all became better wildlife artists as a result of Lol's efforts.

Classroom Exhibition
The pupils began to make posters, information sheets and models of birds as well as placing and nourishing small trees in milk cartons.
We made a really good display of all our work.

The Big Science Festival!
When we were finished, our teacher told us that our work was so good that we were going to exhibit it as part of the 'Galway Science & Technology Festival' in Salthill.
Thousands of people came to the exhibition and saw our colourful stand. St. Cuana's was one of 15 schools displaying their science projects. But many visitors said they liked ours a lot which made us very happy!