Mardi Gras Bead Drive is here & so is the Great Backyard Bird Count!

Throw us some of your beads into one of the boxes around A and C wings. We'll collect throughout February and then give them back to a local krewe to prevent more new beads from being made, bought, and shipped. To learn more about the ubiquitous beads we go crazy for at the parades, visit these sites: Mardi Gras Beads Don’t Belong in Your Mouth (or your kids’), The Toxic Truth Behind Mardi Gras Beads, or Mardi Gras Beads, A Toxic Legacy.

This year, we want our campus community and those around us to take some time to count some birds & participate in an annual citizen science initiative with The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon Society, and Birds Canada called the Great Backyard Bird Count. It just takes 15 or more minutes of you looking at birds wherever you are and id'ing them and logging them through the free Merlin ID app or on the Merlin ID web site. Instructions on how to participate are at the link above. And! If you take any pics of your backyard bird(s) or you birdwatching, tag us on Instagram @magnetgreens! How do these two topics connect? Think about how birds in the winter and early spring can mistake beads for food or use them for nesting material. :( Here's someone who's trying to do something about our toxic beads: Of Mardi Gras Beads & Medicine.