OpticsPlanet Inc. Joins the Effort to Connect Children and Nature

Northbrook, IL, May 10, 2009 --(PR.com)-- OpticsPlanet Inc., the leader in Internet optics retailing, is joining with the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology to promote the Lab’s “Celebrate Urban Birds!” project. Celebrate Urban Birds is one of a dozen citizen-science projects at the Cornell Lab that collects the observations of everyday bird watchers for use in scientific studies.

Already a sponsor of the Cornell Lab, OpticsPlanet is now dedicating a page on its website to help bring in donations for Celebrate Urban Birds. “OpticsPlanet is proud to lend its support to the effort to reconnect people of all ages to the natural world,” says OpticsPlanet, Inc. Marketing Manager Yelena Khavkhalyuk. “When our optics customers visit the special page about Celebrate Urban Birds they’ll find that a donation of as little as five dollars will go a long way toward supporting this unique program and helping educate children who will one day be the stewards of our planet and protect the environment we all depend upon.”

“It’s important to reconnect children and the outdoors,” says Celebrate Urban Birds project leader Karen Purcell. “More than 100 studies have shown that spending time with nature has benefits for all of us, promoting concentration and relieving stress. We’re grateful for the support we’re getting from OpticsPlanet—it will allow us to keep offering our program and materials at no cost.”

One young girl changed her mind about city birds after taking part in the project: “At first I didn't like urban birds,” she said. “I thought of them as pests. Then I realized that they are just like me and other kids. We are ignored or people just see as us pests or don’t see us at all…yet if you look a little deeper you can see that on the inside we are pretty unique and cool!”

Celebrate Urban Birds participants watch city birds for 10 minutes, check off 15 target species of birds, and send the information through the mail or the Internet to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Once enough data are gathered, scientists hope to learn more about how birds survive in cities and how they use urban green spaces such as parks, rooftop gardens, and even potted plants on balconies for food, resting sites, and shelter. To find out more about Celebrate Urban Birds or sign up to participate, visit www.celebrateurbanbirds.org.

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Based in Northbrook, Illinois, OpticsPlanet, Inc is the leading online optics retailer with a wide selection of birding binoculars and related optics, as well as men’s and women’s outdoor apparel and gear, flashlights, cases, accessories, sport, safety, and enhancement eyewear. OpticsPlanet.com and Shoptics.com online stores offer serious product knowledge, exceptional customer service, and an outstanding product selection to customers worldwide.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a membership institution dedicated to interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Visit the Lab’s web site at http://www.birds.cornell.edu.