Journal Progress

 

 

Filming Day at the National Wildlife Refuge

We went to the refuge to see some of the birds that we had been learning about during the school year.  We also were being filmed by the filmmaker, Timothy Barksdale, who is creating a series titled, "Adventures with Birdman".  He has a contract with PBS and he will let us know when it will air.  I believe that it will air this fall.  We are a small part of an episode about the Greater Prairie Chickens.

On the way to the refuge a Turkey Vulture flew out of the ditch right beside the van.  The students were so surprised at how huge it was.  When we first we got to the refuge we went to the lake and looked at the birds.  We saw American White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, American Coots, Northern Shovelers and many others.  Some students were shouting out, "Life bird!"

Then we went to the trail and hiked over to the mist nets.  There was a surprise!  A Common Yellowthroat was tangled in the net, so Dr. Swanson took it out and brought it to his banding station.

 Common Yellowthroat

 Common Yellowthroat being banded

He weighed and measured the bird and then he banded it.  He said that it was their “jewelry”.  Each band had a number on it.  Our teacher wrote all of the information down in his notebook.  Birds are banded so that scientists can tell where and when birds travel.  If you ever find a banded bird, jot down the number on the band and what kind of bird it is.  Then you can report it to find out where it had been banded at.

He taught us how to hold a bird carefully and then we each got to hold the birds.  After the Common Yellowthroat, a Yellow-rumped Warbler and an American Robin got caught in the net! 

He is showing us how to hold the bird carefully with two fingers.



Yellow-rumped Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow-rumped Warbler

After we banded three birds we went hiking down the trail.  We saw many birds flying through the air and we saw them on the water too.  We knew the names of all of the birds we saw.  We saw lots of feathers and nests along the trail.  We also stopped and listened to birds.  We heard the Clay-colored Sparrow and White-breasted Nuthatch.

Then we went back to the mist net and found a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Dr. Swanson said that it is the smallest bird in North America except for the hummingbirds.  This was a female and she did not have the ruby coloring on her crown because only the males do.  She sat very still while the kids held her.

Standing on the little dock looking at Snapping Turtles

Then we went to have a picnic and play for awhile.  We loved the picnic and it was really fun!  The teacher was so busy she forgot to take photos!

After that, we got into the van and drove onto the road that crossed the lake.  We looked through the spotting scope and saw:  Eared Grebes, Horned Grebes, Western Grebes, a Semipalmated Plover and other birds.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Scoping birds for the first time

Horned Grebe



American White Pelicans

Then we drove back to the school.  Mr. Barksdale came back with us to film us in the classroom.  We played Bird Memory, showed him our published book and he built a pyramid with us using alphabet blocks dealing with the food chain and the conservation of all living things.

Building the pyramid

It was a great day!  We learned a lot about birds, bird banding and nature.  We had fun on our picnic too!  It was interesting being filmed as well.  Both Dr. Swanson and Tim Barksdale were very nice to us and taught us a lot about birds!  We are very thankful that they took the time to work with us!  It is a day we will never forget!

Bird Projects

The K-kids and their bird projects

Birding at the Lake

It was a cloudy, windy and chilly day, but we wanted to go see the birds at the lake before the next snow storm hit.  We hiked around our lake one time.  We couldn't believe all of the birds we saw.  First we saw the Double-crested Cormorants.  We really liked those!  We also saw some ducks, but they were far off and we weren't sure what they were.  We saw a dead Blue-winged Teal lying on the ground.  It was sad, but it was very pretty and we were surprised at how small it was. 

Next we saw three Great Blue Herons flying.  They were huge!  As we got closer to the cattails we saw something hiding!  It was a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret near each other.  They flew off after awhile.

We saw these birds:  Canada Goose, a Blue {Snow Goose}, American Coot, Hooded Merganser, Gadwall, Ruddy Duck and Northern Shoveler.  We also saw American Robins, Common Grackles, European Starlings and heard a Northern Flicker and a Downy Woodpecker.

Early in the morning we saw over 100 American White Pelicans flying over the playground.  We went out and watched them.  It was cool!



Great Egret

Look closely at who is hiding in the cattails!

Blue-winged Teal

 

Double-crested Cormorant



A crazy trio!

A Visit to the Taxidermist

This morning we walked a few blocks to the taxidermist.  He showed us the animals there.  We especially enjoyed seeing the birds!  Larry was a very good teacher and taught the kids a lot!  Each child received a pheasant feather as a gift.

The Black Hills Raptor Show

On March 21st, the Black Hills Raptor Show came to our school.  Since we are all so crazy about birds, we were very excited!  She brought four birds with her:  a Red-tailed Hawk, an Eastern Screech Owl {that was much smaller than we expected it to be}, an American Kestrel {who seemed to say, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly,...} and a Great Horned Owl.  Nearly all of the k-kids were in attendance and we loved the show.  Afterwards, many of the students won a prize and each family received a free Raptors for Children book.  It was an hour and a half show and we loved it!

Painting Nest Boxes

The kids were so happy to help paint the nest boxes!  There were some frightening moments for this teacher as paint was splattered on things, tracked on the floor and I even got some paint on myself. Oh well!  They did a nice job and took it very seriously.  The nest boxes look great!