Students love learning outdoors, but how do you ensure they are absorbing the science and gaining skills as they do so? The authors found a way--a fourth-grade classroom teacher, a gifted/science resource teacher, and a group of fourth graders--embarked on a yearlong study of birds and the plants they depend on. They used their school yard as the backdrop and incorporated community resources into numerous hands-on experiences that transformed students into eager wildlife investigators and stewards of their local environment. Here they share their inspiring story. (Contains 1 figure.)