Kirsty Costa

Welcome to Weekend Birder.

I'm Kirsty Costa and here together we notice birds.

Imagine a school where students learn through wetlands, forests, mud, risk, curiosity and adventure.

Well, listener friend,

This school exists.

It's called the Nature School.

And birds are a huge part of student life there.

The Nature School's principal is Catherine Shaw, and she's our guest today.

My first question for Catherine is one that I love to ask all my guests.

How did you grow your interest in birds?

The nature school is in Port Macquarie in New South Wales, which is on the east coast of Australia.

As a former primary teacher from an inner city school in Melbourne, I'm trying to picture what a day at the nature school actually looks like.

For example, do students work on computers like other schools?

I am loving the sound of this school already.

And if learning under trees wasn't enough to convince me, Catherine says that birds are an important part of student life at the nature school.

National Bird Week is held every October in Australia.

This annual event celebrates local bird life and raises awareness of bird conservation.

It's also the week that Bird Life Australia runs the Aussie Bird Count.

And national bird week is firmly established on the nature school's calendar.

And the bird call champion of last year was Evie.