Education is a core activity for Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, and the Centre offers education programmes for both day visits and overnight camps.
We have hosted hundreds of visits by primary and secondary schools, as well as tertiary institutions.
A school visit to the centre includes an interpretative talk covering any of the following themes:
bird basics and biology
the nature of estuaries
shorebird ecology and migration
related conservation issues.
This talk is followed by an excursion into the field. These programmes are particularly suited to schools in the Auckland and Waikato areas from where a day visit can be made.
Launched at the end of 2015 Shorebirds of Pukorokoro Miranda is an educational resource designed to match the modern curriculum. It includes background material, guides for teachers planning a visit and suggested activities.
Enquire about school visits here.
For more information about what we offer for Primary and Intermediate Schools click here.
The centre also hosts education experiences for our members and the wider public. These include lectures, excursions and workshops on a variety of topics such as shorebird identification, coastal ecology, botany, photography and art. We also run an extremely popular six-day residential field course with sessions on many aspects of ornithology, including the catching and banding of birds.
Details on our courses are available here
A previous education resource kit developed by Miranda Shorebird Centre in association with the Department of Conservation is available here. It includes background material, guides for teachers planning a visit, worksheets and suggested activities.