The Yelkouan Shearwater, the Scopoli’s Shearwater and the European Storm Petrel are pelagic seabirds, meaning they spend almost their entire life out in the open sea. However, through the actions of LIFE PanPuffinus Project, we brought them into the classrooms of Syros!
In May, we visited schools in the capital of Cyclades with the aim of introducing children to seabirds, especially pelagic species and the threats they face. More than 320 children and 25 teachers from Ano Syros Primary School, the 1st Primary School of Ermoupolis, and Poseidonia Primary School took part in our educational program. Together, we "flew" with the Yelkouan Shearwater, the Scopoli’s Shearwater, the European Storm Petrel, the Audouin’s Gull and the European Shag.
The children came to understand the importance of islets as wildlife refuges, rather than as barren, lifeless rocks. They explored the life of seabirds through interactive presentations and activities, while the younger students created seabird colonies and transformed into pelagic seabirds themselves by making masks!
Often, the threats that birds face are “silent,” so third and fourth-grade students were invited to express the adventures of Yelkouan Shearwater's life through pantomime.
Of course, our program also included "Scopoli’s Shearwater Game"! With each roll of the dice, the children discovered a new aspect of this wonderful seabird’s life, sometimes a positive one that earned them “life points” and other times a lurking threat that could prove fatal to its survival.
The sixth-grade students faced a greater challenge: to take on different roles within a community, as residents, professionals, or local authority representatives and make decisions about the future of an islet faced with a human-induced threat. Through this process, they gained insight into the functioning of social roles and how they themselves, as future citizens, have a voice and the power to contribute to the changes in their own communities.
All of these adventures took us, young and old, on a journey across the open sea and into the life of the ocean. We hope that they will help seabirds continue gliding over the waves for many years to come!
The environmental education activities were implemented by the Hellenic Ornithological Society within the framework of the LIFE PanPuffinus Project, co-funded by the European Union, the A. G. Leventis Foundation and the Green Fund.