Student launches birding game for kids

A 15-year-old student recently launched a mobile app game to get children more interested in birding without even having to go outside. Adam Dhalla, the recipient of the 2018 American Birding Association Young Birder of the Year Award, co-created the game called Find the Birds with Thought Generation, a nonprofit focused on producing education mobile games for children. They proposed the game as a way to enjoy the outdoors virtually when traveling was restricted due to the pandemic. In the free-to-download game that’s targeted to children ages 5 to 15, players travel in a virtual animation through Saguaro National Park in Arizona, collecting species cards that contain Cornell Lab of Ornithology information about the birds. They can view animated versions of species, such as the cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus), Arizona’s state bird, and the critically endangered California condor (Gymnogyps californianus). Players are also sent on conservation missions to help the species. Dhalla and his team plan to add a second location to the app in British Columbia, Canada.

Watch this video preview of the mobile game below. Listen to Adam Dhalla’s interview CBC’s The Early Edition here.