I had a flurry of bird study activity recently including an Owl Ecology Program and a Ecology/Winter Bird Count Program at Marlboro Intermediate School and three Christmas Bird Counts.
A group of interested 3rd grade students had the chance to do an Owl Ecology session. There was a group of 24 students. We took apart 24 pellets. In the pellets we found 26 mice, 4 shrews, no moles and 1 bird. Compare these numbers with other owl investigations I have done. Look in the archived blogs for them.
The 5th grade students and I did an ecology walk around the school building. We focused on some of the diverse plants in the schoolyard. Talked about how they grow, especially looking at some of the trees. We looked for terminal leaf scarring on twigs to see how much the twigs grew each year over the last few years. We looked for signs of animal life including a several squirrel nests and a robin’s nest. Each student had a pair of binoculars to use to observe wildlife, particularly birds.
I explained that at this time of year all across the country ornithologists and bird watchers are conducting Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). These counts have been held for more than 100 years. The numbers of birds observed and recorded on these counts are used by scientists to look at trends in bird populations over time. A count is held in a specified area 15 miles in diameter. The count area is divided into sector where teams of observers identify and count as many birds as they can on the count day.
We identified and counted birds as we walked around the schoolyard to give students an idea of how ornithologists would do a bird count. Here are our results.
Count starting time 1:15 PM
Count ending time 2 PM
Clear skies, temperature in the low 40’s, gentle breeze from the west
Birds Observed
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 7
Blue Jay – 3
American Crow – 8
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Northern Cardinal – 3
I have done three CBC’s in the past week. The first was the Greene County CBC with Alan Mapes and Kate Storms. We had 46 species including 5 Bald Eagles, several thousand Snow Goose, a really great look at a Barred Owl, one Winter Wren and a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers. The most unusual find was a Baltimore Oriole. Oriole are neotropical migrants and spend their winter in the rainforests of South America. Unlike the Marlboro students we did not find any Northern Mockingbirds.
The second count I did was the Montezuma CBC. I have participated in this count for the last three years. I was happy to join in the count efforts since back in the late ‘70’s I worked on releasing Bald Eagles at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and I enjoy the opportunity to look for birds there again. Link to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge website below to the right to find out more about this wonderful wild area. I teamed up with Jim Eckler and Dave Robertson and we found 34 species, the coolest (in my opinion) being 8 Trumpeter Swans. We also got 1 Bald Eagle, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and a Carolina Wren, the only one seen in the count circle.
The third count was the Albany County Christmas Bird Count which I worked with Alan Mapes and Jocelyn Cole. We found 38 species with the most interesting being 2 Northern Shrikes, an adult and a juvenile. Other interesting species were two Ruffed Grouse (an easily missed species), an Eastern Screech-owl, a Barred Owl, two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and eighteen Common Redpoll. The Screech-owl flew in to my screech-owl whistling. If I hadn’t been looking in the right spot when it flew in we’d most likely have missed it as it had a completely silent flight. We observed it for a few minutes then it flew off without a sound.
For more information on Christmas Bird Counts find the link to the right to visit the National Audubon Christmas Bird Count site.
A bonus of these bird count explorations is the chance to see a wide variety of habitats and the wildlife found there, more than just birds. On all three CBC's we observed River Otter tracks. On the Albany County CBC we actually had the chance to observe an Otter along with eight other mammals, an unidentified shrew species, red squirrel, gray squirrel, cottontail rabbit, meadow vole, an unidentified peromiscus species (deer or white-footed mouse), white-tailed deer and muskrat.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Circleville Owl Pellet Dissection
On November 12th I visited the 3rd grade classes at Circleville Elementary School in the Pine Bush CSD and did an owl ecology program. After discussion on how ornithologists might do a survey of the common owls of the Circleville area we dissected owl pellets. Here are the results.
Feuerstack’s class 14 pellets – 26 mice, 7 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Eller’s class 12 pellets – 25 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 4 birds
DelMoro’s class 11 pellets – 23 mice, 4 shrews, 1 mole, 1 bird
Lindsay’s class 11 pellets – 25 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 1 bird
A total of 48 pellets were dissected. Most of the pellets were the large size pellets available from Pellets, Inc. (see link below on the right). There were 4 small pellets used in Mrs. Feuerstack’s class. These small size pellets might affect the average number of prey found per pellet.
A total of 99 mice, 14 shrews, 1 mole and 6 birds were found in the pellets. That averages two and a half prey animals per pellet. If an owl produces four pellets per night how many prey animals might be eaten? How many of these would most likely be mice?
It’s interesting to note the number of birds eaten. This seems to be an unusually high number as compared to other dissection classes (look through the blog archives to see other dissection results). Perhaps the owls that produced these pellets have a particular fondness for birds. There could be several reasons for this. One might be that there was an abundance of small birds in the area that the owls hunted making it easier or more likely that they would capture birds for food. Another could be that these owls may have had a preference for birds and hunted them more successfully than the typical owl. Just like people, sometimes an animal develops a taste for certain prey. If that is the case that predator might pursue their favorite prey more so than other predators of their kind. An example of this is a kestrel I once observed. This kestrel had a fondness for snakes. It would often be seen flying to its nest box with a snake in its talons to feed its young. “Feathers in the Wind” by James J. Brett, published by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association (see link below), lists insect and mice as the most favored food for Kestrels, followed by small birds and amphibians. Snakes as a food source are not even mentioned.
Feuerstack’s class 14 pellets – 26 mice, 7 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Eller’s class 12 pellets – 25 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 4 birds
DelMoro’s class 11 pellets – 23 mice, 4 shrews, 1 mole, 1 bird
Lindsay’s class 11 pellets – 25 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 1 bird
A total of 48 pellets were dissected. Most of the pellets were the large size pellets available from Pellets, Inc. (see link below on the right). There were 4 small pellets used in Mrs. Feuerstack’s class. These small size pellets might affect the average number of prey found per pellet.
A total of 99 mice, 14 shrews, 1 mole and 6 birds were found in the pellets. That averages two and a half prey animals per pellet. If an owl produces four pellets per night how many prey animals might be eaten? How many of these would most likely be mice?
It’s interesting to note the number of birds eaten. This seems to be an unusually high number as compared to other dissection classes (look through the blog archives to see other dissection results). Perhaps the owls that produced these pellets have a particular fondness for birds. There could be several reasons for this. One might be that there was an abundance of small birds in the area that the owls hunted making it easier or more likely that they would capture birds for food. Another could be that these owls may have had a preference for birds and hunted them more successfully than the typical owl. Just like people, sometimes an animal develops a taste for certain prey. If that is the case that predator might pursue their favorite prey more so than other predators of their kind. An example of this is a kestrel I once observed. This kestrel had a fondness for snakes. It would often be seen flying to its nest box with a snake in its talons to feed its young. “Feathers in the Wind” by James J. Brett, published by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association (see link below), lists insect and mice as the most favored food for Kestrels, followed by small birds and amphibians. Snakes as a food source are not even mentioned.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Ornithology at Bardonia Elementary School
Back at the end of October I visited Bardonia Elementary School in Rockland County and took 5th graders outside the school to do an autumn bird walk survey. Each student had a pair of binoculars to use and received instructions on how to use them properly, how to observe birds with the binoculars and how to identify birds by both sight and sound. Students also learned about taking field notes.
Twenty-six species of birds were identified. Six species were seen by all three classes: Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Common Grackle and House Sparrow. Many of the birds were observed just outside the 5th grade wing where a bird feeder is set up. These included House Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, White-throated Sparrow, Common Grackle, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal and Tufted Titmouse. The Carolina Wren was heard by all the classes off in the woods just beyond the bird feeder area. A small stream flows through this area. This forest tangle is an ideal habitat for this wren.
The Red-bellied Woodpeckers were heard and seen in the woods to the west of the school. Both the Red-bellied Woodpecker and the Carolina Wren are species that have in the last few decades been moving northward. Some scientists think that this is due to global climate change. Both of these species are more common in the southern parts of the United States where it is warmer.
Another interesting observation was that the last class of the day was the one that observed all but one of the hawks and vultures. Hawks and vultures often use thermal updrafts to soar and glide in. The updrafts make flying easier. Updrafts build as the day wears on and the sun heats up the earth. Earlier in the day there would be less rising hot air. This is may, in part, be the reason the first two classes did not observe the hawks and vultures.
This late in the fall many of the summer residents have left, migrating for areas to the south. They have left not so much because they don’t like the cold weather, but because the cold weather makes it harder to find food. These birds eat mostly insects. The cold weather affects the numbers of insects available for the birds to find for food. Some of these birds travel as far as South America for the winter. They will be back by mid-May of next year when there will be more insects for food.
Here are the results of our survey.
Mrs. O’Hara class – 8:40 to 9:40 AM, clear skies, very few clouds, little to no wind, temperature in the upper 50’s, 15 species identified
Mourning Dove – 3
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Blue Jay – 5
Black-capped Chickadee – 3
Tufted Titmouse – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 1
American Robin – 18
European Starling – 5
Cedar Waxwing – 3
White-throated Sparrow – 3
Red-wing Blackbird – 25
Common Grackle – 2
House Sparrow – 10
Mr. Pisano’s class – 9:50 to 10:50 AM, clear skies, very few clouds, little to no wind, temperature in the upper 50’s to lower 60’s, 14 species identified
American Kestrel – 1
Blue Jay – 9
American Crow – 13
Black-capped Chickadee – 2
Tufted Titmouse – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 1
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
White-throated Sparrow – 2
Northern Cardinal – 1
Common Grackle – 13
American Goldfinch – 11
House Sparrow – 11
Mrs. Del Valle – 11:00 to Noon, clear skies, very few clouds, little to no wind, temperature in the upper mid 60’s, 15 species identified
Black Vulture – 5
Turkey Vulture – 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1
Coopers Hawk – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Mourning Dove – 2
Blue Jay – 3
American Crow – 3
Black-capped Chickadee – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 1
Northern Cardinal – 1
Common Grackle – 9
Red-wing Blackbird – 15
House Sparrow – 15
Here is a composite list of all species seen between all three classes:
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Coopers Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-wing Blackbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Look through my blog to find other schools where I have taken students out into the field for ornithological observations. You can compare the findings of these different outings. The differences might be due to differing habitats, different locations, different times of year and different weather conditions. What differences do you find and why?
Twenty-six species of birds were identified. Six species were seen by all three classes: Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Common Grackle and House Sparrow. Many of the birds were observed just outside the 5th grade wing where a bird feeder is set up. These included House Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, White-throated Sparrow, Common Grackle, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal and Tufted Titmouse. The Carolina Wren was heard by all the classes off in the woods just beyond the bird feeder area. A small stream flows through this area. This forest tangle is an ideal habitat for this wren.
The Red-bellied Woodpeckers were heard and seen in the woods to the west of the school. Both the Red-bellied Woodpecker and the Carolina Wren are species that have in the last few decades been moving northward. Some scientists think that this is due to global climate change. Both of these species are more common in the southern parts of the United States where it is warmer.
Another interesting observation was that the last class of the day was the one that observed all but one of the hawks and vultures. Hawks and vultures often use thermal updrafts to soar and glide in. The updrafts make flying easier. Updrafts build as the day wears on and the sun heats up the earth. Earlier in the day there would be less rising hot air. This is may, in part, be the reason the first two classes did not observe the hawks and vultures.
This late in the fall many of the summer residents have left, migrating for areas to the south. They have left not so much because they don’t like the cold weather, but because the cold weather makes it harder to find food. These birds eat mostly insects. The cold weather affects the numbers of insects available for the birds to find for food. Some of these birds travel as far as South America for the winter. They will be back by mid-May of next year when there will be more insects for food.
Here are the results of our survey.
Mrs. O’Hara class – 8:40 to 9:40 AM, clear skies, very few clouds, little to no wind, temperature in the upper 50’s, 15 species identified
Mourning Dove – 3
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Blue Jay – 5
Black-capped Chickadee – 3
Tufted Titmouse – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 1
American Robin – 18
European Starling – 5
Cedar Waxwing – 3
White-throated Sparrow – 3
Red-wing Blackbird – 25
Common Grackle – 2
House Sparrow – 10
Mr. Pisano’s class – 9:50 to 10:50 AM, clear skies, very few clouds, little to no wind, temperature in the upper 50’s to lower 60’s, 14 species identified
American Kestrel – 1
Blue Jay – 9
American Crow – 13
Black-capped Chickadee – 2
Tufted Titmouse – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 1
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
White-throated Sparrow – 2
Northern Cardinal – 1
Common Grackle – 13
American Goldfinch – 11
House Sparrow – 11
Mrs. Del Valle – 11:00 to Noon, clear skies, very few clouds, little to no wind, temperature in the upper mid 60’s, 15 species identified
Black Vulture – 5
Turkey Vulture – 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1
Coopers Hawk – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Mourning Dove – 2
Blue Jay – 3
American Crow – 3
Black-capped Chickadee – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 1
Northern Cardinal – 1
Common Grackle – 9
Red-wing Blackbird – 15
House Sparrow – 15
Here is a composite list of all species seen between all three classes:
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Coopers Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-wing Blackbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Look through my blog to find other schools where I have taken students out into the field for ornithological observations. You can compare the findings of these different outings. The differences might be due to differing habitats, different locations, different times of year and different weather conditions. What differences do you find and why?
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
another owl pellet investigation
Another school year has arrived and I am busy with my Ecologist-In-Residence programs. I still have some visits to write about from last year. I’ll try to catch up, but I do have some results from my most recent visit to Bell Top Elementary School in East Greenbush, NY.
Mrs. O’Connell chose my Owl Ecology program for her 3rd grade class. She has selected a theme on owls for her class. The students will be doing research about owls from around the world and she felt that starting the year off with a session on owl ecology would be good. She was also very excited to be able to have the students take apart owl pellets.
We dissected 11 pellets and found the skeletal remains of 21 voles, 1 shrew, no moles and no birds. The average of 2 animals per pellet is a little low from my experience. I did note that the pellets I got for this class were smaller than the usual pellets I have gotten in the past. I think that is reflected in the number of prey animals per pellet.
Look through the archived entries for other owl pellet explorations and see how these numbers compare to what other classes have found in the past.
I am going to try to catch up with some blogs about programs I did last spring and experiences from this summer. This includes a pond ecology session I did last spring including some video of a few pond creatures, an interesting ground bee that I found while doing sheep shearing for kindergarteners and 1sr graders and a cannibal grasshopper we found this summer while traveling out west.
Mrs. O’Connell chose my Owl Ecology program for her 3rd grade class. She has selected a theme on owls for her class. The students will be doing research about owls from around the world and she felt that starting the year off with a session on owl ecology would be good. She was also very excited to be able to have the students take apart owl pellets.
We dissected 11 pellets and found the skeletal remains of 21 voles, 1 shrew, no moles and no birds. The average of 2 animals per pellet is a little low from my experience. I did note that the pellets I got for this class were smaller than the usual pellets I have gotten in the past. I think that is reflected in the number of prey animals per pellet.
Look through the archived entries for other owl pellet explorations and see how these numbers compare to what other classes have found in the past.
I am going to try to catch up with some blogs about programs I did last spring and experiences from this summer. This includes a pond ecology session I did last spring including some video of a few pond creatures, an interesting ground bee that I found while doing sheep shearing for kindergarteners and 1sr graders and a cannibal grasshopper we found this summer while traveling out west.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Ornithology at King Elementary, Warwick
On Friday, June 10th, I lead three groups of 5th grade ornithologists around the school yard environment of King Elementary School in Warwick. The school grounds offer a nice variety of habitats including lawn, mixed hardwood forest, old field and marshland. This mix of habitat meets the needs of a variety of birds and other wildlife (in addition to the birds that we were looking for we saw gray squirrels, chipmunks, cotton-tail rabbits and a red fox).
Here are the findings for each group.
Mrs. DiGi’s class – Our walk started at about 9:15 AM. There was a 75% cloud cover with a slight breeze from the southwest. The temperature was in the low 60’s.
We identified:
Great Blue Heron
Mallard
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
American Gold Finch
Mrs. Kunath’s class – We started at about 10:15 AM. Cloud cover had increased to about 95%. The breeze continued to be slight from the southwest. We estimated the temperature to be in the mid-60’s.
We saw the following:
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Northern Flicker
Great Crested Flycatcher
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
American Gold Finch
Mrs. Boccia’s class – Was in the field by about 2:30 PM and had the shortest time afield since it was the last group before school dismissal. The weather had become more threatening with cloud cover about 70% including thunderclouds. The breeze remained slight but shifted to the west. The temperature increased to about the low 70’s. At one point some rain began to fall but did not last much more than a few minutes.
We spotted the following birds:
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Blue Jay
American Crow
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
American Gold Finch
We spotted a total of 28 species for the day. The third group out had the least number of birds. This might have been the result of several factors. One is that mid-day to early afternoon is not the best time to see the most numbers of birds. When the day gets hot many birds look for a place to rest out of the heat of the day. The best time to find most birds is early morning just after sunrise. The third group also did not have time to explore all the habitats around the school.
One of the first birds that were spotted for the day was a great blue heron. I explained to the students that it might be the only one we’d see. Actually we saw another four or five. All of them were observed by the early group. These herons might have been heading out from their nesting or roosting areas where they had spent the night. They would have been heading out to find hunting areas for the day.
Our view of the fox with Mrs. Boccia’s class was quite exciting. The fox seemed to have some issues with its fur. It might have mange, but otherwise seemed to be OK. We watched it hunt along the edge of the field where it seemed to catch some kind of small animal before heading off into the old field habitat.
We named one corner of the school yard chipping sparrow corner since there were several chipping sparrows hunting for food and feeding young. When ever the adults would fly up from the ground after capturing some food we’d spot where the young were from the squawking they would make as they begged to be fed. We were able to observe the adults feeding the young.
At one point we had a great view of a male red-winged blackbird displaying his red shoulder patches when a second male landed on the lawn where the first blackbird was feeding.
It would be a great ornithology project to make a checklist of the birds of King Elementary School.
Here are the findings for each group.
Mrs. DiGi’s class – Our walk started at about 9:15 AM. There was a 75% cloud cover with a slight breeze from the southwest. The temperature was in the low 60’s.
We identified:
Great Blue Heron
Mallard
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
American Gold Finch
Mrs. Kunath’s class – We started at about 10:15 AM. Cloud cover had increased to about 95%. The breeze continued to be slight from the southwest. We estimated the temperature to be in the mid-60’s.
We saw the following:
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Northern Flicker
Great Crested Flycatcher
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
American Gold Finch
Mrs. Boccia’s class – Was in the field by about 2:30 PM and had the shortest time afield since it was the last group before school dismissal. The weather had become more threatening with cloud cover about 70% including thunderclouds. The breeze remained slight but shifted to the west. The temperature increased to about the low 70’s. At one point some rain began to fall but did not last much more than a few minutes.
We spotted the following birds:
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Blue Jay
American Crow
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
American Gold Finch
We spotted a total of 28 species for the day. The third group out had the least number of birds. This might have been the result of several factors. One is that mid-day to early afternoon is not the best time to see the most numbers of birds. When the day gets hot many birds look for a place to rest out of the heat of the day. The best time to find most birds is early morning just after sunrise. The third group also did not have time to explore all the habitats around the school.
One of the first birds that were spotted for the day was a great blue heron. I explained to the students that it might be the only one we’d see. Actually we saw another four or five. All of them were observed by the early group. These herons might have been heading out from their nesting or roosting areas where they had spent the night. They would have been heading out to find hunting areas for the day.
Our view of the fox with Mrs. Boccia’s class was quite exciting. The fox seemed to have some issues with its fur. It might have mange, but otherwise seemed to be OK. We watched it hunt along the edge of the field where it seemed to catch some kind of small animal before heading off into the old field habitat.
We named one corner of the school yard chipping sparrow corner since there were several chipping sparrows hunting for food and feeding young. When ever the adults would fly up from the ground after capturing some food we’d spot where the young were from the squawking they would make as they begged to be fed. We were able to observe the adults feeding the young.
At one point we had a great view of a male red-winged blackbird displaying his red shoulder patches when a second male landed on the lawn where the first blackbird was feeding.
It would be a great ornithology project to make a checklist of the birds of King Elementary School.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Composite List for Brinton Brook
Here is a composite list for all bird species identified during the birding field trips done with Pierre Van Cortlandt 5th Grade classes. These field trips spanned the period of early May to early June, with trips on May 10, May 11 and June 1.
A total of 49 species were identified. Here is the list:
Mallard
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Veery
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Gray Catbird
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Indigo Bunting
Purple Finch
Gold Finch
Chipping Sparrow
A total of 49 species were identified. Here is the list:
Mallard
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Veery
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Gray Catbird
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Indigo Bunting
Purple Finch
Gold Finch
Chipping Sparrow
Ornithology Field Trip to Brinton Brook Sanctuary
I’m trying to catch up blogging about some of my most recent school programs. On June 1st I did the final ornithology field trip for Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School 5th Graders. Two classes participated in the field trips, Mrs. Ernau’s class in the morning and Mrs. Herbert’s class in the afternoon. Here are our findings.
Mrs. Ernau’s class
We started at about 9:30 AM. The weather was good with high altitude haze, a slight breeze from the southwest and temperature in the low 70’s. The nineteen species identified were:
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Black-and-White Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Purple Finch
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
Mrs. Herbert’s class
Our exploration started at about 12:15 PM. The weather had become partly sunny and remained breezy with temperatures still in the low 70’s. At one point there was a strong rain shower that lasted about 5 or 10 minutes. We waited out the rain underneath a tree at the edge of the pond. The eighteen species identified were:
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Gray Catbird
Black-and-White Warbler
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
In addition to these birds that were identified while the two classes were with me I was able to identify the following birds either before or after students were in the Sanctuary.
Turkey Vulture
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Yellow Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Gold Finch
A total of 35 species were identified during the day including birds seen by the two classes and what were observed when I was by myself. A very good day indeed.
Mrs. Ernau’s class
We started at about 9:30 AM. The weather was good with high altitude haze, a slight breeze from the southwest and temperature in the low 70’s. The nineteen species identified were:
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Black-and-White Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Purple Finch
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
Mrs. Herbert’s class
Our exploration started at about 12:15 PM. The weather had become partly sunny and remained breezy with temperatures still in the low 70’s. At one point there was a strong rain shower that lasted about 5 or 10 minutes. We waited out the rain underneath a tree at the edge of the pond. The eighteen species identified were:
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Gray Catbird
Black-and-White Warbler
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
In addition to these birds that were identified while the two classes were with me I was able to identify the following birds either before or after students were in the Sanctuary.
Turkey Vulture
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Yellow Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Gold Finch
A total of 35 species were identified during the day including birds seen by the two classes and what were observed when I was by myself. A very good day indeed.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Owl Pellet Dissecting at Altamont Elementary School
On Monday, May 24, I visited the Altamont Elementary School. I met with two 4th grade classes to learn about owls. Here are the results of the owl pellet dissection that we did.
Miss Flanagan’s class dissected 11 pellets and found 28 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds
Mrs. Vogel’s class dissected 11 pellets and found 36 mice, 0 shrews, 1 mole and 0 birds
The average number of animals found per pellet for the two classes was 3. This is a little higher than usual. Check the other owl pellet dissections here on the blog and you’ll find that the average number of animals per pellet is about two and half. This larger than average number is probably the result of dissecting pellets that came from owls that had feasted on a family of mice. These pellets had 5 or 6 skulls that were very small. These small skulls were probably from young mice. The owl would have heard the squeaking sounds made by the young mice in a nest. It would have swooped down on the nest and eaten all the mice there at one time.
By combining these number with the numbers found in other owl pellet dissections you can see if mice are indeed the most favored food, with shrews being a second choice and moles and bird not often eaten.
Miss Flanagan’s class dissected 11 pellets and found 28 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds
Mrs. Vogel’s class dissected 11 pellets and found 36 mice, 0 shrews, 1 mole and 0 birds
The average number of animals found per pellet for the two classes was 3. This is a little higher than usual. Check the other owl pellet dissections here on the blog and you’ll find that the average number of animals per pellet is about two and half. This larger than average number is probably the result of dissecting pellets that came from owls that had feasted on a family of mice. These pellets had 5 or 6 skulls that were very small. These small skulls were probably from young mice. The owl would have heard the squeaking sounds made by the young mice in a nest. It would have swooped down on the nest and eaten all the mice there at one time.
By combining these number with the numbers found in other owl pellet dissections you can see if mice are indeed the most favored food, with shrews being a second choice and moles and bird not often eaten.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Landis Arboretum Early Morning Bird Walk, Saturday, May 22
We had gorgeous weather for our annual Arboretum Spring Bird Walk. The weather was great for us and for the gnats. There were clouds of gnats that followed our small group of 10 bird watchers (including Kate, a crackerjack bird watcher at the age of 10). We identified 44 species of birds. We had a great look at a Scarlet Tanager that was sitting on top of a dead snag in clear view for all. A couple of Cedar Waxwings in a shadbush showed off their gorgeous “wax-tipped” wings and tails. Bluebirds abounded every where, including the area around the greenhouse and barn where we saw them gobbling up caterpillars.
There were several birds that we often get on our spring bird walk but missed this day. They include Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-throated Green Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Veery and a bunch of the woodpeckers – Downy, Hairy, Pileated and Northern Flicker.
Along with all the birds we discovered two small red efts along the woodland trail, heard many green frogs in the wet areas, heard many chipmunks in and around the woodlands and spotted a painted turtle in the pond down slope from the great oak.
Here are the birds we got.
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Rock Pigeon
Mourning dove
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Ovenbird
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Gold Finch
House Finch
There were several birds that we often get on our spring bird walk but missed this day. They include Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-throated Green Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Veery and a bunch of the woodpeckers – Downy, Hairy, Pileated and Northern Flicker.
Along with all the birds we discovered two small red efts along the woodland trail, heard many green frogs in the wet areas, heard many chipmunks in and around the woodlands and spotted a painted turtle in the pond down slope from the great oak.
Here are the birds we got.
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Rock Pigeon
Mourning dove
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Ovenbird
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Gold Finch
House Finch
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Leptondale Ornithologists Study Owl Pellets
I send my apologies to the 4th grade ornithologists that I worked with last week at the Leptondale Elementary School in Wallkill. I had told them that I would post this data over the weekend, but I got caught up in a whole bunch of house and yard work (actually trying to repair my garage roof that was damaged by one of the late winter snow storms) and have now just gotten to looking over the data and writing this report.
I visited with Mrs. Psilopoulos’s and Mrs. Dannemann’s classes on Thursday, May 13th and Mr. Zupan’s class on Friday, May 14th. Here are the results of the owl pellet dissections.
Mrs. P’s class – 10 pellets dissected, 33 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Mrs. D’s class – 13 pellets dissected, 28 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Mr. Z’s class – 13 pellets dissected, 33 mice, 2 shrew, 0 moles and 1 bird found
There was an unusually high number of mice (the average number of mice per pellet is between 2 to 3) in some of the pellets. In these pellets most of the mice skulls were very small. This is likely the result of the owls finding a mouse nest, and eating all of the baby mice in the nest (actually these are voles, a kind of mouse-like rodent that live in the grass/meadow fields, especially staying in the grass thatch layer close to the ground). The nests would be a hollowed out ball of grass material. The owl upon hearing the baby mouse sounds in the nest would swoop down upon the nest, tear it apart and gobble up all the mice in the nest, eating the babies and perhaps the mom if she was present and did not escape. These pellets had 5 to 7 mice in the pellet with most if not all of them being small skulls from baby mice. A few pellets had 4 or 5 small mouse skulls and 1 large skull. This might have been a situation where the owl ate the mom and all the babies.
Compare these numbers to some of the other owl pellet dissection reported here in my blog.
I visited with Mrs. Psilopoulos’s and Mrs. Dannemann’s classes on Thursday, May 13th and Mr. Zupan’s class on Friday, May 14th. Here are the results of the owl pellet dissections.
Mrs. P’s class – 10 pellets dissected, 33 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Mrs. D’s class – 13 pellets dissected, 28 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Mr. Z’s class – 13 pellets dissected, 33 mice, 2 shrew, 0 moles and 1 bird found
There was an unusually high number of mice (the average number of mice per pellet is between 2 to 3) in some of the pellets. In these pellets most of the mice skulls were very small. This is likely the result of the owls finding a mouse nest, and eating all of the baby mice in the nest (actually these are voles, a kind of mouse-like rodent that live in the grass/meadow fields, especially staying in the grass thatch layer close to the ground). The nests would be a hollowed out ball of grass material. The owl upon hearing the baby mouse sounds in the nest would swoop down upon the nest, tear it apart and gobble up all the mice in the nest, eating the babies and perhaps the mom if she was present and did not escape. These pellets had 5 to 7 mice in the pellet with most if not all of them being small skulls from baby mice. A few pellets had 4 or 5 small mouse skulls and 1 large skull. This might have been a situation where the owl ate the mom and all the babies.
Compare these numbers to some of the other owl pellet dissection reported here in my blog.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Second Day of Ornithology Field Trips at Brinton Brook Sanctuary
We had another good day for ornithology field trips to the Brinton Brook Sanctuary. The temperature for the day pretty much stayed in the the low to mid 50’s. The day started sunny with high altitude light haze. By afternoon it had become completely overcast. A slight breeze held up all day.
Mrs. Liss’s class was the first group starting at 9 and ending the field trip at 10: 30. Mrs. Dillon’s class did the afternoon getting into the field around 12:15 PM and going to 1:15.
Here are the species that were found.
Mrs. Liss’s class
Black Vulture
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush (by call)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Mrs. Dillon’s class
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch (by call)
Wood Thrush (by song)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler (by song)
Ovenbird (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow (by song)
Northern Cardinal (by song)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole
Common Grackle
The most interesting observations for both sessions was a red-bellied woodpecker nest. I had discovered the nest earlier in the morning before Mrs. Liss’s class arrived. The nest was in an old dead snag, about 50 feet in the air. We were able to observe both the male and the female coming and going to the nest. Since both birds were coming and going we speculated that their might be young already hatched in the nest.
The indigo bunting was easily observed by both groups. A male in pre-breeding plumage was singing vigorously from several easily observed posts was seen by both groups. Black vulture, eastern phoebe, chipping sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch and blackburnian warbler were birds identified that were missed the day before. Turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, pileated woodpecker, northern parula and gold finch were birds identified the first day but missed this day.
As in the first day I was able to identify birds before and after the class visits to the Sanctuary. These included mourning dove, American crow, northern flicker, veery, red-eyed vireo, gold finch, red-tailed hawk, brown-headed cowbird and magnolia warbler.
In the two days of doing field trips 43 species of birds were identified. I am sure there were other warblers that were missed because I could not identify them by song. The warblers are often so high in the trees that the only way to identify them is by their song.
Mrs. Liss’s class was the first group starting at 9 and ending the field trip at 10: 30. Mrs. Dillon’s class did the afternoon getting into the field around 12:15 PM and going to 1:15.
Here are the species that were found.
Mrs. Liss’s class
Black Vulture
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush (by call)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Mrs. Dillon’s class
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch (by call)
Wood Thrush (by song)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler (by song)
Ovenbird (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow (by song)
Northern Cardinal (by song)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole
Common Grackle
The most interesting observations for both sessions was a red-bellied woodpecker nest. I had discovered the nest earlier in the morning before Mrs. Liss’s class arrived. The nest was in an old dead snag, about 50 feet in the air. We were able to observe both the male and the female coming and going to the nest. Since both birds were coming and going we speculated that their might be young already hatched in the nest.
The indigo bunting was easily observed by both groups. A male in pre-breeding plumage was singing vigorously from several easily observed posts was seen by both groups. Black vulture, eastern phoebe, chipping sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch and blackburnian warbler were birds identified that were missed the day before. Turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, pileated woodpecker, northern parula and gold finch were birds identified the first day but missed this day.
As in the first day I was able to identify birds before and after the class visits to the Sanctuary. These included mourning dove, American crow, northern flicker, veery, red-eyed vireo, gold finch, red-tailed hawk, brown-headed cowbird and magnolia warbler.
In the two days of doing field trips 43 species of birds were identified. I am sure there were other warblers that were missed because I could not identify them by song. The warblers are often so high in the trees that the only way to identify them is by their song.
Monday, May 10, 2010
May 10 Ornithology Field Trips to Brinton Brook Sanctuary
The weather cooperated today for our ornithology field trip to the Brinton Brook Sanctuary. The weather started in the low 50’s and worked it way up into the upper 50’s. There was a strong fairly steady breeze from the Northwest and it was mostly clear sky.
There were two field groups, Mrs. Zabbia’s class that was in the field from 9 to 10: 30 in the morning and Mrs. Barkan’s class that was afield from 12:15 PM to about 1.
Here are the species that were found.
Mrs. Zabbia’s class
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker (by call)
Pileated Woodpecker (by call)
Blue Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush (by call)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Black-throated Green Warbler (by song)
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart (by song)
Ovenbird (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Mrs. Barkan’s class
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker (by call)
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay (by call)
Tufted Titmouse
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Parula (by song)
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Black-and-White Warbler (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow (by song)
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (by song)
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole
Gold Finch (by song and call)
Because of time constraints Mrs. Barkan’s class did not get as far as Mrs. Zabbia’s class and missed out on the pond habitat. There were several species found only at the pond. These included the two kinds of swallows, the red-winged blackbird and the common grackle. It was rather unusual to have such a number of barn swallows coursing about the pond hunting for insects. It is more common to see tree swallows doing that and we did not see a single tree swallow. The morning group had a good look at a couple of black-and-white warblers, but the afternoon group only heard them. The afternoon group had some great views of Baltimore orioles and indigo buntings, both birds completely missed in the morning.
I was able to use a new device that I had just purchased from Wild Birds Unlimited in Saratoga, an I Flyer bird song player. This hand held “wand” scans a bar code for species found in the I Flyer BarCode ScanBook and then plays a good quality reproduction of that species’ call or song. This is a handy tool in teaching bird songs. Since many of the birds were identified just by the calls or songs that we heard knowledge of bird songs is important. Check the links below to both Wild Birds Unlimited and I Flyer.
After the second class finished and left I spent a little more time along the trail from the road to the pond. I picked up a few other species that were not seen or heard by either group. These included and eastern phoebe by it’s song, a Carolina wren along the roadway near the houses and two mallard ducks at the pond. In addition I was able to observe both the northern parula and the American redstart.
It will be interesting to see what the Tuesday classes will find.
There were two field groups, Mrs. Zabbia’s class that was in the field from 9 to 10: 30 in the morning and Mrs. Barkan’s class that was afield from 12:15 PM to about 1.
Here are the species that were found.
Mrs. Zabbia’s class
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker (by call)
Pileated Woodpecker (by call)
Blue Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush (by call)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Black-throated Green Warbler (by song)
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart (by song)
Ovenbird (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Mrs. Barkan’s class
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker (by call)
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay (by call)
Tufted Titmouse
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Parula (by song)
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Black-and-White Warbler (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow (by song)
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (by song)
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole
Gold Finch (by song and call)
Because of time constraints Mrs. Barkan’s class did not get as far as Mrs. Zabbia’s class and missed out on the pond habitat. There were several species found only at the pond. These included the two kinds of swallows, the red-winged blackbird and the common grackle. It was rather unusual to have such a number of barn swallows coursing about the pond hunting for insects. It is more common to see tree swallows doing that and we did not see a single tree swallow. The morning group had a good look at a couple of black-and-white warblers, but the afternoon group only heard them. The afternoon group had some great views of Baltimore orioles and indigo buntings, both birds completely missed in the morning.
I was able to use a new device that I had just purchased from Wild Birds Unlimited in Saratoga, an I Flyer bird song player. This hand held “wand” scans a bar code for species found in the I Flyer BarCode ScanBook and then plays a good quality reproduction of that species’ call or song. This is a handy tool in teaching bird songs. Since many of the birds were identified just by the calls or songs that we heard knowledge of bird songs is important. Check the links below to both Wild Birds Unlimited and I Flyer.
After the second class finished and left I spent a little more time along the trail from the road to the pond. I picked up a few other species that were not seen or heard by either group. These included and eastern phoebe by it’s song, a Carolina wren along the roadway near the houses and two mallard ducks at the pond. In addition I was able to observe both the northern parula and the American redstart.
It will be interesting to see what the Tuesday classes will find.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Second Bird Survey at Kings Elementary
The second bird survey at Kings Elementary in Warwick was on Tuesday, May 4th with Ms. Davis’s 5th Grade class. As with my previous ornithology visit with Mrs. Shook's class we started our walk with a short discussion of what an ornithologist might do to conduct a bird survey, how they would identify birds by sight and sound and how they would take field notes. Each student was given a pair of binoculars and instructions on how to use them.
The walk started at about 2:15 PM. The weather was good with the temperature in the upper 60’s. There were strong gusts of wind from the west. The sky was about 75% cloudy with a few intermittent rain drops.
These were the birds identified:
Turkey Vulture – 3
Common Flicker – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 2
Eastern Phoebe – 1
American Crow – 2
Tree Swallow – 5
Tufted Titmouse – 1
Eastern Bluebird – 2
American Robin – 10
Northern Mockingbird – 1
European Starling – 1
Chipping Sparrow – 2
Northern Cardinal – 1
Rose-breasted Grossbeak – 1
Baltimore Oriole – 1
Red-winged Blackbird – 3
Brown-headed Cowbird – 3
American Goldfinch – 7
House Sparrow – 1
The Rose-breasted Grossbeak that we saw was the female. We looked for the strikingly colored male but couldn’t find one. The Northern Mockingbird was identified by its song, actually songs, since it is a mimic, singing the songs of many different kinds of birds. It is quite unusual to have only one European Starling and one House Sparrow, as these birds are often found in groups. It is also likely that there were many more Red-winged Blackbirds in the wetland area behind the school and we just didn’t see them.
Compare these findings with Mrs. Shook’s class that went out on April 30th. In just a few days time there has been a return of several migrant birds. This will continue through the middle of May and the ornithology classes on June 10th should have even more species as by then all of the returning migrants will be back.
The walk started at about 2:15 PM. The weather was good with the temperature in the upper 60’s. There were strong gusts of wind from the west. The sky was about 75% cloudy with a few intermittent rain drops.
These were the birds identified:
Turkey Vulture – 3
Common Flicker – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 2
Eastern Phoebe – 1
American Crow – 2
Tree Swallow – 5
Tufted Titmouse – 1
Eastern Bluebird – 2
American Robin – 10
Northern Mockingbird – 1
European Starling – 1
Chipping Sparrow – 2
Northern Cardinal – 1
Rose-breasted Grossbeak – 1
Baltimore Oriole – 1
Red-winged Blackbird – 3
Brown-headed Cowbird – 3
American Goldfinch – 7
House Sparrow – 1
The Rose-breasted Grossbeak that we saw was the female. We looked for the strikingly colored male but couldn’t find one. The Northern Mockingbird was identified by its song, actually songs, since it is a mimic, singing the songs of many different kinds of birds. It is quite unusual to have only one European Starling and one House Sparrow, as these birds are often found in groups. It is also likely that there were many more Red-winged Blackbirds in the wetland area behind the school and we just didn’t see them.
Compare these findings with Mrs. Shook’s class that went out on April 30th. In just a few days time there has been a return of several migrant birds. This will continue through the middle of May and the ornithology classes on June 10th should have even more species as by then all of the returning migrants will be back.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Brinton Brook Sanctuary Preview Trip
My ornithology and terrestrial ecology field trips for 5th graders at Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle school was postponed today. Instead I met with classes and talked about careers in ecology, how 5th graders might prepare for those careers and how they might someday then be involved in situations like the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
After my time at school I went to the Brinton Brook Sanctuary (a Saw Mill River Audubon site) to check out the trails for P V C classes that I will be taking there. It was windy, but the rain had stopped. There was still a slight overcast.
These are the birds that I saw or heard:
Wood Duck
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker (ID’ed by sound)
Blue Jay
American Crow (ID’ed by sound)
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Black-throated Green Warbler (ID’ed by sound)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
Our field trips are scheduled for next week. I am hoping that we have good weather and since it will be the height of migration I hope that there will be more species to see and hear.
After my time at school I went to the Brinton Brook Sanctuary (a Saw Mill River Audubon site) to check out the trails for P V C classes that I will be taking there. It was windy, but the rain had stopped. There was still a slight overcast.
These are the birds that I saw or heard:
Wood Duck
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker (ID’ed by sound)
Blue Jay
American Crow (ID’ed by sound)
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Black-throated Green Warbler (ID’ed by sound)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
Our field trips are scheduled for next week. I am hoping that we have good weather and since it will be the height of migration I hope that there will be more species to see and hear.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Bird Survey at King Elementary
On Friday, April 30 I conducted a bird survey around the King Elementary School in Warwick with Mrs. Shook’s 5th Grade class. We started our walk with a short discussion of what an ornithologist might do to conduct a bird survey, how they would identify birds by sight and sound and how they would take field notes. Each student was given a pair of binoculars and instructions on how to use them.
Our walk started at about 2:15 PM. The weather was good with the temperature in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. There was slight breeze from the west, with mostly clear skies.
These were the birds identified:
Turkey Vulture – 6
Black Vulture – 5
Osprey – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Blue Jay – 2
American Crow – 2
Tree Swallow – 2
Eastern Bluebird – 1
American Robin – 1
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Chipping Sparrow – 3
Red-winged Blackbird – 1
Brown-headed Cowbird – 3
Our walk started at about 2:15 PM. The weather was good with the temperature in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. There was slight breeze from the west, with mostly clear skies.
These were the birds identified:
Turkey Vulture – 6
Black Vulture – 5
Osprey – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Blue Jay – 2
American Crow – 2
Tree Swallow – 2
Eastern Bluebird – 1
American Robin – 1
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Chipping Sparrow – 3
Red-winged Blackbird – 1
Brown-headed Cowbird – 3
Owl Pellet Dissection with Mrs. Sirico’s 3rd Graders
On Friday, April 30 I worked with Mrs. Sirico’s 3rd Grade students as ornithologists studying the predator-prey relationship of owls. We dissected 11 Barn Owl pellets and found 31 mice, 1 shrew, 2 moles and no birds. The average of 3.1 prey per pellet is a bit higher than usual, as is the 2 moles being eaten and only 1 shrew. Compare these numbers to other owl pellet dissections in my blog. If we add this data to the data collected with other classes we see that mice are still the preferred food, with shrews a second choice and mole and birds a third.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Landis Arboretum Hawk Watch
What a beautiful day at the Landis Arboretum in Esperance, Schoharie Co. It was a great day, although did not get the number of hawks that I was hoping for.
Here is what we saw as far as raptors -
Bald Eagle - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Northern Harrier - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3*
Turkey Vulture - 5*
Unidentified Raptor - 6
Unidentified Buteo - 3
*the most seen at one time
Most interesting raptor not seen was Osprey, as I have seen that raptor on most of my spring hawk watches at the Arboretum when the weather was cooperative.
In addition to these raptors the follow birds were identified during the day -
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Phoebe
Tree Swallow
Blue Jay
Common Raven
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Thrasher
American Robin
Eastern Bluebird
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Northern Cardinal
Purple Finch
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Eastern Towhee
Dark-eyed Junco
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Here is what we saw as far as raptors -
Bald Eagle - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Northern Harrier - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3*
Turkey Vulture - 5*
Unidentified Raptor - 6
Unidentified Buteo - 3
*the most seen at one time
Most interesting raptor not seen was Osprey, as I have seen that raptor on most of my spring hawk watches at the Arboretum when the weather was cooperative.
In addition to these raptors the follow birds were identified during the day -
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Phoebe
Tree Swallow
Blue Jay
Common Raven
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Thrasher
American Robin
Eastern Bluebird
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Northern Cardinal
Purple Finch
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Eastern Towhee
Dark-eyed Junco
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Plattekill Bird Survey
On Friday, April 9th, I did two bird walks with students at the Plattekill Elementary School in Wallkill, NY. Here is the Bird Survey Report for the walk with 2nd grade ornithologists in Mrs. Bailey's, Mrs. Moran's and Mrs. Bouk's classes.
Mrs. Bailey’s and Bouck’s classes
9:15 AM, 100% cloudy, slight breeze, seasonably cool
Canada Goose – 2
Turkey Vulture – 1
Killdeer – 1
Mourning Dove – 1
Blue Jay – 3
Fish Crow – 1
American Robin – 4
European Starling – 5
Common Grackle – 3
Chipping Sparrow – 1
House Sparrow – 4
Mrs. Moran’s and Bouck’s classes
10:15 AM, 100% cloudy, slight breeze, seasonably cool
Mourning Dove – 3
Northern Flicker – 1
Blue Jay – 11
American Crow – 1
American Robin – 3
European Starling – 6
Red-winged Blackbird – 1
Common Grackle – 4
Chipping Sparrow – 1
House Sparrow – 4
On both walks there were many birds that were observed but went by unidentified. Binoculars would have been very useful for observing these birds. Unfortunately there was not a supply of binoculars sized for second grader eyes. It would be a great to have a classroom set of compact binoculars for younger students. Compact binoculars can be adjusted to fit the intrapupilarry distances of young ornithologists.
For some birds the identification was made by the bird's song or call. A good example of this is the American Crow which has a very distinctly different call than the American Crow. Two other birds were identified by their songs, the Chipping Sparrow and the Killdeer. The Chipping Sparrow has a song that is a series of chips that is sung to a tempo that makes it sound like a sewing machine. Hence I suggested to the students that it was the “sewing machine bird”. We were able to see the sparrow fly about, but it was far enough away to pretty much look like and "LBJ" - a Little Brown Jobber. The Killdeer was only heard and never observed. It was calling from a gravel parking lot where it might eventually nest right on the ground not making much of a nest but with eggs that blend right in with a gravel environment.
We can compare this survey with the bird walk that was done with Plattekill’s sister elementary school, Ostrander Elmentary. To see the Ostrander data, check Ornithology at Ostrander Elementary entry for March 16th.
Mrs. Bailey’s and Bouck’s classes
9:15 AM, 100% cloudy, slight breeze, seasonably cool
Canada Goose – 2
Turkey Vulture – 1
Killdeer – 1
Mourning Dove – 1
Blue Jay – 3
Fish Crow – 1
American Robin – 4
European Starling – 5
Common Grackle – 3
Chipping Sparrow – 1
House Sparrow – 4
Mrs. Moran’s and Bouck’s classes
10:15 AM, 100% cloudy, slight breeze, seasonably cool
Mourning Dove – 3
Northern Flicker – 1
Blue Jay – 11
American Crow – 1
American Robin – 3
European Starling – 6
Red-winged Blackbird – 1
Common Grackle – 4
Chipping Sparrow – 1
House Sparrow – 4
On both walks there were many birds that were observed but went by unidentified. Binoculars would have been very useful for observing these birds. Unfortunately there was not a supply of binoculars sized for second grader eyes. It would be a great to have a classroom set of compact binoculars for younger students. Compact binoculars can be adjusted to fit the intrapupilarry distances of young ornithologists.
For some birds the identification was made by the bird's song or call. A good example of this is the American Crow which has a very distinctly different call than the American Crow. Two other birds were identified by their songs, the Chipping Sparrow and the Killdeer. The Chipping Sparrow has a song that is a series of chips that is sung to a tempo that makes it sound like a sewing machine. Hence I suggested to the students that it was the “sewing machine bird”. We were able to see the sparrow fly about, but it was far enough away to pretty much look like and "LBJ" - a Little Brown Jobber. The Killdeer was only heard and never observed. It was calling from a gravel parking lot where it might eventually nest right on the ground not making much of a nest but with eggs that blend right in with a gravel environment.
We can compare this survey with the bird walk that was done with Plattekill’s sister elementary school, Ostrander Elmentary. To see the Ostrander data, check Ornithology at Ostrander Elementary entry for March 16th.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Owl Pellet Study at Kings Elementary School
On Wednesday, April 7, I visited the Kings Elementary School in Warwick to work with 3rd graders studying owls. Part of our study was to dissect owl pellets to see what their favorite food is. Here is what we found:
Mrs. Flynn’s class – 8 pellets dissected, with 20 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles, 1 bird
Mrs. Nachtigal’s class – 10 pellets dissected, with 26 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Mr. Dinoto’s and Mrs. Kipp’s classes – 23 pellets dissected, with 63 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles, 2 birds
In our discussion before dissecting the owl pellets I had presented the idea that the most favored food for owls were mice and that shrews were a secondary food and moles and birds were much less often eaten. It was very interesting to find with the 41 pellets that were dissected that there was no evidence that any shrews had been eaten and that, in fact, 3 birds were part of the owls’ prey.
Compare these findings with owl pellets dissections that I have reported here on my blog - most recently Lynnwood and Ostrander Elementary Schools, Jefferson Elementary in February 2010 and Nazareth Intermediate School in January 2010 (there are other reports - look for them in the archived blogs). The average number of animals eaten per owl pellets is pretty much consistent with the findings of other classes. If this data is combined with the data from other classes it does show the moles and birds are much less eaten than mice and shrews.
Mrs. Flynn’s class – 8 pellets dissected, with 20 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles, 1 bird
Mrs. Nachtigal’s class – 10 pellets dissected, with 26 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Mr. Dinoto’s and Mrs. Kipp’s classes – 23 pellets dissected, with 63 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles, 2 birds
In our discussion before dissecting the owl pellets I had presented the idea that the most favored food for owls were mice and that shrews were a secondary food and moles and birds were much less often eaten. It was very interesting to find with the 41 pellets that were dissected that there was no evidence that any shrews had been eaten and that, in fact, 3 birds were part of the owls’ prey.
Compare these findings with owl pellets dissections that I have reported here on my blog - most recently Lynnwood and Ostrander Elementary Schools, Jefferson Elementary in February 2010 and Nazareth Intermediate School in January 2010 (there are other reports - look for them in the archived blogs). The average number of animals eaten per owl pellets is pretty much consistent with the findings of other classes. If this data is combined with the data from other classes it does show the moles and birds are much less eaten than mice and shrews.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Cape May Birding Trip
I had a few days off with no school programs scheduled so I decided to take a little trip south to Cape May, New Jersey, to look for birds including early migrants. Cape May is actually a fall birding hot spot, but it’s not at all bad for over wintering birds and spring migrants. I started my visit with a stop at the Cape May Bird Observatory Northwood Center to get a map and find out where to go looking for birds. As soon as I got out of my car I spotted a brown thrasher – ah, a bird I wouldn’t see at home in upstate New York at this time of year.
I birded at the Cape May Point State Park, Concrete Ship, the Nature Conservancy’s Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area and a section of the Cape May Canal off of Seashore Road (there had been a black-necked stilt seen there, but it escaped me).
I first took a walk around the trails at Cape May State Park where I had the chance to see a sharp-shinned hawk scoot in and scare up the Carolina chickadees, pine warblers and robins. The warning calls of the chickadees were quite distinct from the black-capped chickadee call which I am more familiar with. I observed a large number of osprey, including one that had caught a fish. Also had great looks at hermit thrush and Carolina wren moving about on the ground just off of the board walk trail.
At the Concrete Ship there were a large number of red-throated loons (which at this time of year in New Jersey have no red on their throats), northern gannets and black and surf scoters. Then it was off to the Nature Conservancy site.
The most interesting finds include piping plover at the Bird Refuge. While enjoying the plovers which were along the sandy beach not much more than twenty feet from me two American oystercatchers came squawking their way to a small pool of water twenty feet on the other side of me. Though not the rare bird the plovers are still a very cool bird to see up close. Along with these two species of birds there was a nice variety of ducks.
On the way to Higbee Beach I looked for the black-necked stilt at an impoundment just off of the Cape May Canal, with no luck. I stopped at Higbee Beach mostly to check it out so I knew where to go for an early morning bird walk with CMBO staff and volunteers. There were a lot of yellow-rumped warblers feeding about the upper tree branches. The early morning walk was super with my only sightings of palm warbler, Bonaparte’s gull and red-breasted merganser for my little trip. There was also large flight of northern flickers.
I had 63 species for the entire trip. Here is a list of the birds I got.
Mute Swan
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
Northern Pintail
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Osprey
Piping Plover
American Oystercatcher
Sanderling
Bonaparte's Gull
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
I birded at the Cape May Point State Park, Concrete Ship, the Nature Conservancy’s Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area and a section of the Cape May Canal off of Seashore Road (there had been a black-necked stilt seen there, but it escaped me).
I first took a walk around the trails at Cape May State Park where I had the chance to see a sharp-shinned hawk scoot in and scare up the Carolina chickadees, pine warblers and robins. The warning calls of the chickadees were quite distinct from the black-capped chickadee call which I am more familiar with. I observed a large number of osprey, including one that had caught a fish. Also had great looks at hermit thrush and Carolina wren moving about on the ground just off of the board walk trail.
At the Concrete Ship there were a large number of red-throated loons (which at this time of year in New Jersey have no red on their throats), northern gannets and black and surf scoters. Then it was off to the Nature Conservancy site.
The most interesting finds include piping plover at the Bird Refuge. While enjoying the plovers which were along the sandy beach not much more than twenty feet from me two American oystercatchers came squawking their way to a small pool of water twenty feet on the other side of me. Though not the rare bird the plovers are still a very cool bird to see up close. Along with these two species of birds there was a nice variety of ducks.
On the way to Higbee Beach I looked for the black-necked stilt at an impoundment just off of the Cape May Canal, with no luck. I stopped at Higbee Beach mostly to check it out so I knew where to go for an early morning bird walk with CMBO staff and volunteers. There were a lot of yellow-rumped warblers feeding about the upper tree branches. The early morning walk was super with my only sightings of palm warbler, Bonaparte’s gull and red-breasted merganser for my little trip. There was also large flight of northern flickers.
I had 63 species for the entire trip. Here is a list of the birds I got.
Mute Swan
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
Northern Pintail
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Osprey
Piping Plover
American Oystercatcher
Sanderling
Bonaparte's Gull
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Another Bird Species Account by 3rd Grader
Michael Castellana was so inspired to be an ornithologist he's done more research on another bird. Here is his second species account, this one on the Indigo Bunting. Again, my appologies in not being able to download the pictures that he included in his write-up.
Indigo Bunting
Size: 51/2” (14 cm)
Male: Vibrant blue finch-like bird. Scattered dark markings on wings and tail.
Female: Light brown bird with faint markings.
Juvenile: Similar to female.
Nest: Cup; female builds; 2 broods per year.
Eggs: 3-4; pale blue without markings.
Incubation: 12-13 days; females incubates.
Fledging: 10-11 days; female feeds young.
Migration: Complete, to southern Florida, Mexico and Central and South America.
Food: Insects, seeds, fruit; will visit seed feeders.
Compare: Male Eastern Bluebird is larger and has a rusty red breast.
Indigo Bunting
Size: 51/2” (14 cm)
Male: Vibrant blue finch-like bird. Scattered dark markings on wings and tail.
Female: Light brown bird with faint markings.
Juvenile: Similar to female.
Nest: Cup; female builds; 2 broods per year.
Eggs: 3-4; pale blue without markings.
Incubation: 12-13 days; females incubates.
Fledging: 10-11 days; female feeds young.
Migration: Complete, to southern Florida, Mexico and Central and South America.
Food: Insects, seeds, fruit; will visit seed feeders.
Compare: Male Eastern Bluebird is larger and has a rusty red breast.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Bird Taxonomy and Bird Lists
As part of my ecologist visit at Ostrander Elementary we did a bird survey. I explained to the students how ornithologist might take field notes. I learned long time ago of a four letter coding system for the common names of birds listed in the American Ornithological Union (AOU). In researching the use of field notes for ornithologist I've found that several scientists have proposed a six letter coding system (go to http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/sixlettercode.html). Both systems use the first letters of the common names of birds. In the four letter system that I am familiar with, birds that have a single word name the abreviation for that bird would be the first four letters of its name. For birds with two names, the first two letter of the first name are combined with the first two letters of the last name to come up with the four letter abreviation. In the case of birds with three names, which includes hyphenated names, the first letter of each of the first two names are used with the first two letters of the last name. For birds with four names, the first letter of each name is used for the abreviated name. There are some cases with the four letter system where there are two birds with the same abreviation (i.e. Barn Owl and Barred Owl). This is where the six letter system would work better.
Here are the abreviations for the birds that we identified on our bird walks at Ostrander.
Red-tailed Hawk - RTHA
Ring-Billed Gull - RBGU
Rock Pigeon - ROPI
Mourning Dove - MODO
Northern Flicker - NOFL
Red-bellied Woodpecker - RBWO
Downy Woodpecker - DOWO
Blue Jay - BLJA
American Crow - AMCR
Fish Crow - FICR
Black-capped Chickadee - BCCH
Tufted Titmouse - TUTI
White-breasted Nuthatch - WBNU
Brown Creeper - BRCR
Northern Mockingbird - NOMO
American Robin - AMRO
European Starling - EUST
House Sparrow - HOSP
Red-winged Blackbird - RWBL
Common Grackle - COGR
Northern Cardinal - NOCA
Song Sparrow -SOSP
I have arranged the list above in what scientist call taxonomic order. This is the order in which birds are classified to show the close relationships between them. For example ducks and geese are very similar types of birds and are classified as Anseriformes. Gulls, although they are found near water and even swim on the surface like ducks are more like shorebirds, so they are classified as Charadriiformes. Most of the birds we observed around the school are called perching birds, which scientist would call Passeriformes. Although the red-tailed hawk perches in tree branches its body, wings and beak shape and its behaviors are not like that of the Passeriforms. These characteristics of the red-tailed hawk are shared by all hawks, falcons and eagles. These birds are called Falconiformes. Just to confuse you, owls, although they might look and act a lot like hawks are not included with the Falconiforms. Can you think why? The owls belong in the group Strigiformes.
There were 22 species of birds observed on my bird walks with 3rd graders over the three week period of my ecology visit. As spring time progresses and the migrant birds return there might be more than twice an many species that would be found around Ostrander Elementary. These might include: Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bald Eagle, American Kestrel, Wild Turkey, Killdeer, Eastern Screech-owl, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Phoebe, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Barn Swallow, House Wren, Carolina Wren, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Baltimore Oriole, Brown-headed Cowbird, Rose-breasted Grossbeak, Purple Finch, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and Chipping Sparrow. Some ornithologists keep a list of the birds that they see in a particular area. You could use this list to create a checklist and record the bird species observed over the course of the school year.
Here are the abreviations for the birds that we identified on our bird walks at Ostrander.
Red-tailed Hawk - RTHA
Ring-Billed Gull - RBGU
Rock Pigeon - ROPI
Mourning Dove - MODO
Northern Flicker - NOFL
Red-bellied Woodpecker - RBWO
Downy Woodpecker - DOWO
Blue Jay - BLJA
American Crow - AMCR
Fish Crow - FICR
Black-capped Chickadee - BCCH
Tufted Titmouse - TUTI
White-breasted Nuthatch - WBNU
Brown Creeper - BRCR
Northern Mockingbird - NOMO
American Robin - AMRO
European Starling - EUST
House Sparrow - HOSP
Red-winged Blackbird - RWBL
Common Grackle - COGR
Northern Cardinal - NOCA
Song Sparrow -SOSP
I have arranged the list above in what scientist call taxonomic order. This is the order in which birds are classified to show the close relationships between them. For example ducks and geese are very similar types of birds and are classified as Anseriformes. Gulls, although they are found near water and even swim on the surface like ducks are more like shorebirds, so they are classified as Charadriiformes. Most of the birds we observed around the school are called perching birds, which scientist would call Passeriformes. Although the red-tailed hawk perches in tree branches its body, wings and beak shape and its behaviors are not like that of the Passeriforms. These characteristics of the red-tailed hawk are shared by all hawks, falcons and eagles. These birds are called Falconiformes. Just to confuse you, owls, although they might look and act a lot like hawks are not included with the Falconiforms. Can you think why? The owls belong in the group Strigiformes.
There were 22 species of birds observed on my bird walks with 3rd graders over the three week period of my ecology visit. As spring time progresses and the migrant birds return there might be more than twice an many species that would be found around Ostrander Elementary. These might include: Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bald Eagle, American Kestrel, Wild Turkey, Killdeer, Eastern Screech-owl, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Phoebe, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Barn Swallow, House Wren, Carolina Wren, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Baltimore Oriole, Brown-headed Cowbird, Rose-breasted Grossbeak, Purple Finch, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and Chipping Sparrow. Some ornithologists keep a list of the birds that they see in a particular area. You could use this list to create a checklist and record the bird species observed over the course of the school year.
3rd Grade Ornithologists Report
Michael Castellana, in Mrs. McQuiston's third grade class did some research on the Scarlet Tanager after our bird walk on Friday. He sent his report to me and kindly gave me permission to post it on my blog. He included photographs of the male and female Tanager, but I have had difficulty posting those. I will work on that and hopefully will be able to include the two photographs in the post in the future.
Here is the report Michael sent:
Scarlet Tanager
Size: 7” (18 cm)
Male: Bright scarlet red bird with jet pack wings and tail. Ivory bill and dark eyes.
Female: Drap greenish yellow bird with olive wings and tail, whitish wing linings, dark eyes.
Juvenile: Same as female.
Nest: Platform; female builds; 1 brood per year.
Eggs: 4-5; blue green with brown markings.
Incubation: 13-14 days; female incubates.
Fledging: 9-11 days; female and male feed young.
Migration: Complete, to Central and South America.
Food: Insects, fruit.
Compare: Male Northern Cardinal has a black mask and red bill and lacks the black wings of male Scarlet Tanager.
Here is the report Michael sent:
Scarlet Tanager
Size: 7” (18 cm)
Male: Bright scarlet red bird with jet pack wings and tail. Ivory bill and dark eyes.
Female: Drap greenish yellow bird with olive wings and tail, whitish wing linings, dark eyes.
Juvenile: Same as female.
Nest: Platform; female builds; 1 brood per year.
Eggs: 4-5; blue green with brown markings.
Incubation: 13-14 days; female incubates.
Fledging: 9-11 days; female and male feed young.
Migration: Complete, to Central and South America.
Food: Insects, fruit.
Compare: Male Northern Cardinal has a black mask and red bill and lacks the black wings of male Scarlet Tanager.
Bird Walk Make-up
On Friday, March 26, we were able to do the continuation, actually a second attempt at the bird survey walk with Mrs. McQuiston’s third grade class that we had started on Monday. The weather was much better than on Monday. It was mostly cloudy when we started at 1:10, but then cleared to just a few cirrus clouds. There was a brisk breeze from the northeast. It was seasonally cool. We took the same route clockwise around the school that I had done with the other 3rd grade classes.
We were able to observe and count the following birds:
American Robin – 9
American Crow – 5
House Sparrow – 8
Tufted Titmouse – 2
Red-winged Blackbird – 30
European Starling – 3
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 2
Mourning Dove – 1
Song Sparrow – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1
We saw an American Crows carrying nest material, small sticks, flying in the same direction that had been observed by another class.
We were able to observe and count the following birds:
American Robin – 9
American Crow – 5
House Sparrow – 8
Tufted Titmouse – 2
Red-winged Blackbird – 30
European Starling – 3
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 2
Mourning Dove – 1
Song Sparrow – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1
We saw an American Crows carrying nest material, small sticks, flying in the same direction that had been observed by another class.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Spring Bird Survey at Ostrander - Third Class
On Monday, March 22, we had a bird survey walk with Mrs. McQuiston’s third grade class. The weather was iffy – completely cloudy, light drizzle and a light breeze with a mild temperature. We weren’t sure if we would be able to do the walk because of the weather, but decided to give it a try. After about half an hour the rain became more steady and decided to head back inside and do another walk later in the week.
We were able to observe and count the following birds around the school building:
American Robin – 4
American Crow – 2
House Sparrow – 3
Tufted Titmouse – 2
Blue Jay – 5
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Northern Cardinal – 3
Common Grackle – 4
Red-winged Blackbird – 10
Fish Crow – 1
European Starling – 12
We saw two American Crows carrying nest material, small sticks, flying toward the tree line behind the school. We plan to look for the nest. The Fish Crow was identified by its distinctive call. The Cardinals were very active doing there mating/territory calls all around the school.
We hope that Friday, our alternate day, will have better weather.
We were able to observe and count the following birds around the school building:
American Robin – 4
American Crow – 2
House Sparrow – 3
Tufted Titmouse – 2
Blue Jay – 5
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Northern Cardinal – 3
Common Grackle – 4
Red-winged Blackbird – 10
Fish Crow – 1
European Starling – 12
We saw two American Crows carrying nest material, small sticks, flying toward the tree line behind the school. We plan to look for the nest. The Fish Crow was identified by its distinctive call. The Cardinals were very active doing there mating/territory calls all around the school.
We hope that Friday, our alternate day, will have better weather.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Lynnwood Elementary Ornithologists Study Owls
Today Lynnwood 4th grade ornithologist studied owl with me. Four classes dissected owl pellets and found the following.
Mrs. Janssen’s class dissected 11 pellets and found 31 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Mrs. Lodge’s class dissected 9 pellets and found 21 mice, 2 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Mrs. Shields’ class dissected 11 pellets and found 30 mice, 1 shrew, 1 moles, 0 birds
Mr. Freeman’s class dissected 10 pellets and found 29 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
All four fourth grades combined dissected 41 pellets and found 111 mice, 5 shrew, 1 mole and 0 birds. Do these numbers support the hypothesis that was discussed in class?
During one class our discussion touched on how many animals does an owl eat for a meal. For this we need to look at our data and calculate an average. Now for most 4th graders this will be a new mathematical computation. To get an average, of course, we need to total the number of animals found in the pellets, 117, and divide it by the number of pellets dissected, 41. The average for our data therefore is 2.9, almost 3 animals per meal. Compare this average to the averages for owl pellet dissections done by other classes (see - Ostrander Elementary on March 8, 9 and 10; Jefferson Elementary on February 3; Nazareth Intermediate School on January 25, 26 and 28; and Circleville Elementary on November 4, 2009 - there are other investigation recorded on dates previous to these that you can search for in the blog). You will find that this is a little higher. Why might this be? Remember, ever scientist starts their science work with a question.
There might be a couple of reasons why. One might be a result of the start of the spring season. The owl pellets that were dissected were collected soon after they were produced by wild owls. That means these pellets show what the owls are eating now, in the early spring. The mice in northern California, Oregon and Washington, where these pellets come from have already started there reproductive cycles. Owls would hear the sounds and activity of a mouse nest, land on the nest and eat up the mouse family all at once. Indeed, there were several pellets dissected that had 5 or 6 mice in them, with all of the skulls being quite small. This would support this hypothesis, since the small skulls would be from young mice.
Another possibility is that the pellets dissected were not an average sample of owl pellets. Since I order many pellets from Pellets Inc. and I had to pay extra for a rush order to get these in time for our study, the sales representative told me he would make sure we had large pellets. Large pellets usually might occur when an owl eats a larger than usual meal. If he was carefully picking large pellets for our order that might result in a larger average of animals per pellet change our findings.
Mrs. Janssen’s class dissected 11 pellets and found 31 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Mrs. Lodge’s class dissected 9 pellets and found 21 mice, 2 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Mrs. Shields’ class dissected 11 pellets and found 30 mice, 1 shrew, 1 moles, 0 birds
Mr. Freeman’s class dissected 10 pellets and found 29 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
All four fourth grades combined dissected 41 pellets and found 111 mice, 5 shrew, 1 mole and 0 birds. Do these numbers support the hypothesis that was discussed in class?
During one class our discussion touched on how many animals does an owl eat for a meal. For this we need to look at our data and calculate an average. Now for most 4th graders this will be a new mathematical computation. To get an average, of course, we need to total the number of animals found in the pellets, 117, and divide it by the number of pellets dissected, 41. The average for our data therefore is 2.9, almost 3 animals per meal. Compare this average to the averages for owl pellet dissections done by other classes (see - Ostrander Elementary on March 8, 9 and 10; Jefferson Elementary on February 3; Nazareth Intermediate School on January 25, 26 and 28; and Circleville Elementary on November 4, 2009 - there are other investigation recorded on dates previous to these that you can search for in the blog). You will find that this is a little higher. Why might this be? Remember, ever scientist starts their science work with a question.
There might be a couple of reasons why. One might be a result of the start of the spring season. The owl pellets that were dissected were collected soon after they were produced by wild owls. That means these pellets show what the owls are eating now, in the early spring. The mice in northern California, Oregon and Washington, where these pellets come from have already started there reproductive cycles. Owls would hear the sounds and activity of a mouse nest, land on the nest and eat up the mouse family all at once. Indeed, there were several pellets dissected that had 5 or 6 mice in them, with all of the skulls being quite small. This would support this hypothesis, since the small skulls would be from young mice.
Another possibility is that the pellets dissected were not an average sample of owl pellets. Since I order many pellets from Pellets Inc. and I had to pay extra for a rush order to get these in time for our study, the sales representative told me he would make sure we had large pellets. Large pellets usually might occur when an owl eats a larger than usual meal. If he was carefully picking large pellets for our order that might result in a larger average of animals per pellet change our findings.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Ostrander Elementary Bird Walk
I just finished a bird walk with Ms. Missale’s and Mrs. Wager’s 3rd grade classes at Ostrander Elementary School in Wallkill. We did a survey of the birds at the school. Here is our data.
Our walk started at about 2:00 PM. The weather was good with no clouds and a slight breeze from the East. We were able to identify the following birds as we walked around the school.
American Robin – 3
Rock Pigeon – 2
American Crow – 15
House Sparrow – 6
Ring-billed Gull – 4
Mourning Dove – 3
Tufted Titmouse – 1
Blue Jay – 1
Brown Creeper – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 3
We also observed four gulls that may have been Ring-billed Gulls but they were too far away to be sure.
We can compare our findings with the bird survey that was done with Mrs. Stokes class on Tuesday, March 9th. What do we find? Why might there be these similarities or differences? Unfortunately we didn’t record the weather conditions that day. That may have affected what birds we observed and how many there were. Of course our observations today are a week later. As spring approaches there will be more birds arriving from their winter habitats, but the birds observed today and last week are all birds that have been here all winter.
We will be doing one last bird survey with Mrs. McQuiston’s class on Monday, March 22. What might those finding be? How might they compare with the previous two bird surveys.
Our walk started at about 2:00 PM. The weather was good with no clouds and a slight breeze from the East. We were able to identify the following birds as we walked around the school.
American Robin – 3
Rock Pigeon – 2
American Crow – 15
House Sparrow – 6
Ring-billed Gull – 4
Mourning Dove – 3
Tufted Titmouse – 1
Blue Jay – 1
Brown Creeper – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 3
We also observed four gulls that may have been Ring-billed Gulls but they were too far away to be sure.
We can compare our findings with the bird survey that was done with Mrs. Stokes class on Tuesday, March 9th. What do we find? Why might there be these similarities or differences? Unfortunately we didn’t record the weather conditions that day. That may have affected what birds we observed and how many there were. Of course our observations today are a week later. As spring approaches there will be more birds arriving from their winter habitats, but the birds observed today and last week are all birds that have been here all winter.
We will be doing one last bird survey with Mrs. McQuiston’s class on Monday, March 22. What might those finding be? How might they compare with the previous two bird surveys.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Another Ostrander Owl Ecology Class
I finished my last owl ecology session at Ostrander Elementary School with Mrs. Busse’s 2nd grade class. We dissected 14 pellets and found 30 mice, 7 shrews, 2 moles and no birds. Check out other owl dissection data from presentations I have done previously, including the results from the two other second grade Ostrander classes in earlier blog entries.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Ornithology at Ostrander Elementary School
I am continuing my Ecologist-In-Residence program at Ostrander Elementary School in Wallkill. Today we were ornithologists with Mrs. Stokes 3rd grade class doing a spring bird inventory of the school yard. Our walk was at 1:45 in the afternoon. We counted the following birds:
Common Grackle – 6
Ring-billed Gull – 4
American Crow – 38
House Sparrow – 4
Mourning Dove – 3
European Starling – 3
Red-winged Blackbird – 11
Blue Jay – 1
I had been doing General Ecology walks with 1st grade classes earlier in the day and there was much more bird activity. During those walks we saw over 1000 Canada Geese. We also observed a Red-tailed Hawk, several more Blue Jays and many more American Crows.
The habitat for birds at Ostrander is very good. As the spring season moves forward more birds will return from their winter homes and many more species could be counted at the school. I have two more third grade ornithology session scheduled next week. It will be interesting to see what the bird species counts will be for those classes. I will post those findings here after I have done those walks.
Common Grackle – 6
Ring-billed Gull – 4
American Crow – 38
House Sparrow – 4
Mourning Dove – 3
European Starling – 3
Red-winged Blackbird – 11
Blue Jay – 1
I had been doing General Ecology walks with 1st grade classes earlier in the day and there was much more bird activity. During those walks we saw over 1000 Canada Geese. We also observed a Red-tailed Hawk, several more Blue Jays and many more American Crows.
The habitat for birds at Ostrander is very good. As the spring season moves forward more birds will return from their winter homes and many more species could be counted at the school. I have two more third grade ornithology session scheduled next week. It will be interesting to see what the bird species counts will be for those classes. I will post those findings here after I have done those walks.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Owl Pellet Study at Ostrander Elementary School
I visited the Ostrander Elementary School in Wallkill, NY today. I had two 2nd grade classes where we studied the common owls of the area and dissected owl pellets. Here is the data that was collected.
Mrs. Dutka’s class dissected 12 pellets and found 23 mice, 0 shrew, 0 moles and 1 bird
Mrs. Lazinski’s class dissected 10 pellets and found 19 mice, 2 shrew, 1 mole and 1 bird
A total of 22 pellets were dissected in which we found 42 mice, 2 shrews, 1 mole and 2 birds. What does this tell us about the favorite food of owls?
We will be taking apart owl pellets in other 2nd grade classes. We can add those findings to these to get a better idea of owl food preference. In addition we can look at the findings of other schools here on my blog. Check out my blog for February 3 at Jefferson Elementary, late January at Bushkill Elementary and November 4 at Circleville Elementary, among the recent school visits where I studied owls with elementary ornithologists.
Mrs. Dutka’s class dissected 12 pellets and found 23 mice, 0 shrew, 0 moles and 1 bird
Mrs. Lazinski’s class dissected 10 pellets and found 19 mice, 2 shrew, 1 mole and 1 bird
A total of 22 pellets were dissected in which we found 42 mice, 2 shrews, 1 mole and 2 birds. What does this tell us about the favorite food of owls?
We will be taking apart owl pellets in other 2nd grade classes. We can add those findings to these to get a better idea of owl food preference. In addition we can look at the findings of other schools here on my blog. Check out my blog for February 3 at Jefferson Elementary, late January at Bushkill Elementary and November 4 at Circleville Elementary, among the recent school visits where I studied owls with elementary ornithologists.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Survey with Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School 5th Graders
Earlier in February I visited the Piere van Cortlandt Middle School in Croton-On-Hudson. We did a survey of aquatic macroinvertebrates from pond water samples taken from a pond at the Landis Arboretum in Esperance, NY. These samples were taken from under the ice covering the pond which was about a foot thick.
Zabbia (first class first day), Ernau (second class first day), Dillon (third class first day), Barkan (first class second day), Herbert (second class second day), Liss (third class second day)
Waterboatmen - Dillon 1, Barkan 2, Herbert 3, Liss 1
Nematode - Dillon 3
Crawling Water Beetle - Ernau 3, Dillon 5, Barkan 3, Herbert 5, Liss 6
Dragonfly - Zabbia 34, Ernau 40, Dillon 39, Barkan 42, Herbert 31, Liss 35
Caddisfly - Zabbia 20, Ernau 27, Dillon 21, Barkan 18, Herbert 17, Liss 15
Backswimmer - Zabbia 4, Ernau 8, Dillon 8, Barkan 2, Herbert 8, Liss 6
Leech - Zabbia 5, Ernau 2, Dillon 3, Barkan 2, Herbert 2, Liss 2
Mayfly - Zabbia 16, Ernau 1, Dillon 1, Barkan 5
Bloodworm Midge - Zabbia 7, Ernau 11, Dillon 3, Barkan 5, Herbert 4
Freshwater Shrimp - Ernau 2, Dillon 2, Barkan 2
Giant Waterbug - Zabbia 4, Dillon 1, Barkan 1, Herbert 1
Cranefly - Dillon 1
Daphnia - Zabbia 1, Ernau 2, Dillon 1
Damselfly - Zabbia 10, Ernau 11, Dillon 4, Barkan 8, Herbert 7, Liss 3
Snail - Zabbia 2, Dillon 3, Barkan 3, Herbert 2, Liss 6
Water Pennies* - Ernau 1, Barkan 6,
Adalphia** - Barkan 1
Riffle Beetles*** - Barkan 2
Stonefly**** - Liss 1
* Water Pennies are the immature stage of the riffle beetles and occur only in streams. Since our samples came from a pond these wouldn’t be found there. I am not sure what creature may have been mistaken for a water penny.
** I think there was some confusion in the writing of the name “daphnia” which resulted in this entry.
*** Riffle beetles are found only in streams. The beetles identified as riffle beetles were most likely crawling water beetles.
**** Stoneflies occur mostly in streams or large lakes. They do not occur in the pond where our samples were taken. I suspect this specimen was really a damselfly.
In our first study of aquatic macroinvertebrates, the samples taken from the duck pond, we were doing a qualitative study. In a qualitative study we are looking at what kind of life occurs in that habitat. With this study we were looking for not only what is there but in what amounts. This would a quantitative study. Depending on what information a scientist is looking for they might do either studies.
I was interested in knowing how well 5th grade scientist might be at finding and identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates, a quantitative study. I wanted to know not only whether the 5th graders would find dragonflies, for example, but how many they would find. If the numbers of dragonflies found by the six classes varied widely I would then presume that there was wide range of ability at finding these creatures. In fact, students were quite capable at finding the macroinvertebrates, especially the larger size ones like damselflies, dragonflies and caddisflies.
As we did our investigation I began to wonder about the midge fly larvae, also called bloodworms. Several students observed bloodworms being eaten by dragonfly nymphs in the uncamouflage containers. It seems from the data that indeed they were being eaten since we found more of them on the first day (11 being the most and an average of 7 being found) as compared to the second day, where the most found was 5 with an average of 3. The bloodworm midges with their bright red color need a lot of hiding places. The investigation tubs must not have provided enough hiding places and they were being eaten.
As with any scientific work the more you do something the better you get at it. As beginning aquatic ecologist I am sure that there were some misidentifications made. For example I know that there was only one waterboatmen in all of the tubs. The waterboatmen look a lot like backswimmers. When I look at the data for waterboatmen I presume that the wide range in the number reported is a result of this misidentification. I’m sure that the extra waterboatmen were in fact backswimmers.
Mistakes in identification can be suspected if we analyze the data. Look at the giant waterbug data. Three classes found one giant waterbug, two found none and one found four. Again, with my experience, I know for sure that there was only one giant waterbug in our samples. When I analyze our findings I see that most teams, if they found a giant waterbug they found only one. I would suspect then that the class that found four likely misidentified the species and mistook some other organism for giant waterbugs.
When we look at most of the other creatures that were counted we see that we get very consistent numbers. In the cases where there was definitely some confusion in identification (the riffle beetles and stoneflies), the species that they likely were fit nicely into the numbers found by other students (the riffle beetles being crawling water beetles and the stonefly being a damselfly). This tells me that students were doing a good job in identifying most of the macroinvertebrates. There is one other species though, where I think there were some mistaken identities. Can you figure out which species this is?
From this data I conclude that 5th grade scientist with guidance, practice and experience a very capable of doing an inventory of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Even though some misidentification might occur the students did a great job in finding and identifying most of the aquatic organisms that we had in the sample tubs.
For more aquatic ecology investigations, including photos of some of the aquatic macroinvertebrates that might be seen in a freshwater pond see blog entry, Pond Ecology at Central Valley and Circleville, dated November 19, 2008.
Zabbia (first class first day), Ernau (second class first day), Dillon (third class first day), Barkan (first class second day), Herbert (second class second day), Liss (third class second day)
Waterboatmen - Dillon 1, Barkan 2, Herbert 3, Liss 1
Nematode - Dillon 3
Crawling Water Beetle - Ernau 3, Dillon 5, Barkan 3, Herbert 5, Liss 6
Dragonfly - Zabbia 34, Ernau 40, Dillon 39, Barkan 42, Herbert 31, Liss 35
Caddisfly - Zabbia 20, Ernau 27, Dillon 21, Barkan 18, Herbert 17, Liss 15
Backswimmer - Zabbia 4, Ernau 8, Dillon 8, Barkan 2, Herbert 8, Liss 6
Leech - Zabbia 5, Ernau 2, Dillon 3, Barkan 2, Herbert 2, Liss 2
Mayfly - Zabbia 16, Ernau 1, Dillon 1, Barkan 5
Bloodworm Midge - Zabbia 7, Ernau 11, Dillon 3, Barkan 5, Herbert 4
Freshwater Shrimp - Ernau 2, Dillon 2, Barkan 2
Giant Waterbug - Zabbia 4, Dillon 1, Barkan 1, Herbert 1
Cranefly - Dillon 1
Daphnia - Zabbia 1, Ernau 2, Dillon 1
Damselfly - Zabbia 10, Ernau 11, Dillon 4, Barkan 8, Herbert 7, Liss 3
Snail - Zabbia 2, Dillon 3, Barkan 3, Herbert 2, Liss 6
Water Pennies* - Ernau 1, Barkan 6,
Adalphia** - Barkan 1
Riffle Beetles*** - Barkan 2
Stonefly**** - Liss 1
* Water Pennies are the immature stage of the riffle beetles and occur only in streams. Since our samples came from a pond these wouldn’t be found there. I am not sure what creature may have been mistaken for a water penny.
** I think there was some confusion in the writing of the name “daphnia” which resulted in this entry.
*** Riffle beetles are found only in streams. The beetles identified as riffle beetles were most likely crawling water beetles.
**** Stoneflies occur mostly in streams or large lakes. They do not occur in the pond where our samples were taken. I suspect this specimen was really a damselfly.
In our first study of aquatic macroinvertebrates, the samples taken from the duck pond, we were doing a qualitative study. In a qualitative study we are looking at what kind of life occurs in that habitat. With this study we were looking for not only what is there but in what amounts. This would a quantitative study. Depending on what information a scientist is looking for they might do either studies.
I was interested in knowing how well 5th grade scientist might be at finding and identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates, a quantitative study. I wanted to know not only whether the 5th graders would find dragonflies, for example, but how many they would find. If the numbers of dragonflies found by the six classes varied widely I would then presume that there was wide range of ability at finding these creatures. In fact, students were quite capable at finding the macroinvertebrates, especially the larger size ones like damselflies, dragonflies and caddisflies.
As we did our investigation I began to wonder about the midge fly larvae, also called bloodworms. Several students observed bloodworms being eaten by dragonfly nymphs in the uncamouflage containers. It seems from the data that indeed they were being eaten since we found more of them on the first day (11 being the most and an average of 7 being found) as compared to the second day, where the most found was 5 with an average of 3. The bloodworm midges with their bright red color need a lot of hiding places. The investigation tubs must not have provided enough hiding places and they were being eaten.
As with any scientific work the more you do something the better you get at it. As beginning aquatic ecologist I am sure that there were some misidentifications made. For example I know that there was only one waterboatmen in all of the tubs. The waterboatmen look a lot like backswimmers. When I look at the data for waterboatmen I presume that the wide range in the number reported is a result of this misidentification. I’m sure that the extra waterboatmen were in fact backswimmers.
Mistakes in identification can be suspected if we analyze the data. Look at the giant waterbug data. Three classes found one giant waterbug, two found none and one found four. Again, with my experience, I know for sure that there was only one giant waterbug in our samples. When I analyze our findings I see that most teams, if they found a giant waterbug they found only one. I would suspect then that the class that found four likely misidentified the species and mistook some other organism for giant waterbugs.
When we look at most of the other creatures that were counted we see that we get very consistent numbers. In the cases where there was definitely some confusion in identification (the riffle beetles and stoneflies), the species that they likely were fit nicely into the numbers found by other students (the riffle beetles being crawling water beetles and the stonefly being a damselfly). This tells me that students were doing a good job in identifying most of the macroinvertebrates. There is one other species though, where I think there were some mistaken identities. Can you figure out which species this is?
From this data I conclude that 5th grade scientist with guidance, practice and experience a very capable of doing an inventory of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Even though some misidentification might occur the students did a great job in finding and identifying most of the aquatic organisms that we had in the sample tubs.
For more aquatic ecology investigations, including photos of some of the aquatic macroinvertebrates that might be seen in a freshwater pond see blog entry, Pond Ecology at Central Valley and Circleville, dated November 19, 2008.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Jefferson Elementary School Owl Pellet Dissection
Here are the results for the owl pellet dissection that I did with the 5th grade ornithologists at the Jefferson Elementary School in Rotterdam, NY.
Gorski’s class – 12 pellets dissected, 28 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Guzewich’s class – 11 pellets dissected, 34 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Fiske’s class – 10 pellets dissected, 28 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles and 1 bird found
Zanta’s class – 11 pellets dissected, 24 mice, 3 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Walker’s class – 10 pellets dissected, 24 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds found
In our discussion we concluded that we could get a better understanding of what the owls eat if we took apart more pellets. Unfortunately time and money constraints didn’t allow us to take apart more pellets with each class. By looking at the data from all the classes though we are “taking apart more owl pellets”. What does this data tell us about owl food preference?
You can take this further if you can figure out how many pellets an owl might make in a night. This is what most likely happens. Starting at dusk an owl hunts and eats until it’s full. Then the owl finds a roosting place where it will rest, spit out a pellet and digest its food. This whole process might take a couple of hours. Then the owl will go off and hunt some more doing it all over again. Can you figure out how many pellets an owl might produce in a night? If you can, you can also figure out how many mice an owl might eat in a year.
Look through the blog for more owl pellet dissection entries. That would provide even more data to analyze and get a better understanding of owl prey preference.
Gorski’s class – 12 pellets dissected, 28 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Guzewich’s class – 11 pellets dissected, 34 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Fiske’s class – 10 pellets dissected, 28 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles and 1 bird found
Zanta’s class – 11 pellets dissected, 24 mice, 3 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds found
Walker’s class – 10 pellets dissected, 24 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds found
In our discussion we concluded that we could get a better understanding of what the owls eat if we took apart more pellets. Unfortunately time and money constraints didn’t allow us to take apart more pellets with each class. By looking at the data from all the classes though we are “taking apart more owl pellets”. What does this data tell us about owl food preference?
You can take this further if you can figure out how many pellets an owl might make in a night. This is what most likely happens. Starting at dusk an owl hunts and eats until it’s full. Then the owl finds a roosting place where it will rest, spit out a pellet and digest its food. This whole process might take a couple of hours. Then the owl will go off and hunt some more doing it all over again. Can you figure out how many pellets an owl might produce in a night? If you can, you can also figure out how many mice an owl might eat in a year.
Look through the blog for more owl pellet dissection entries. That would provide even more data to analyze and get a better understanding of owl prey preference.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Day 3 Owl Pellet Analysis at Nazareth Intermediate School
Here are the results for the third day of the Owl Ecology program for 4th graders at the Nazareth Intermediate School in Nazareth, PA.
Fatsinger’s class – 12 pellets dissected contained 23 mice, 2 shrew, 0 moles, 1 bird
Genua’s class – 13 pellets dissected contained 27 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Reynolds’ class – 13 pellets dissected contained 28 mice, 9 shrews, 1 mole, 0 birds
DeBoer’s class – 13 pellets dissected contained 30 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Reed’s class – 12 pellets dissected contained 27 mice, 0 shrew, 0 moles, 1 bird
A total of 63 pellets were dissected containing a total of 151 animals eaten by barn owls. That gives an average of 2.4 animals eaten per pellet. Compare this to data from previous owl pellet investigations described in this blog.
Fatsinger’s class – 12 pellets dissected contained 23 mice, 2 shrew, 0 moles, 1 bird
Genua’s class – 13 pellets dissected contained 27 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Reynolds’ class – 13 pellets dissected contained 28 mice, 9 shrews, 1 mole, 0 birds
DeBoer’s class – 13 pellets dissected contained 30 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Reed’s class – 12 pellets dissected contained 27 mice, 0 shrew, 0 moles, 1 bird
A total of 63 pellets were dissected containing a total of 151 animals eaten by barn owls. That gives an average of 2.4 animals eaten per pellet. Compare this to data from previous owl pellet investigations described in this blog.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Day 2 Owl Ecology Program at Nazareth I S
Here are the results for the second day of the Owl Ecology Program for 4th graders at the Nazareth Intermediate School in Nazareth, PA.
Giemza's class – 11 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Miller's class – 13 pellets dissected contained 31 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Rohn's class – 13 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 3 birds
McCarron's class – 12 pellets dissected contained 29 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
A total of 49 pellets were dissected containing a total of 119 animals eaten by barn owls. That gives an average of 2.4 animals eaten per pellet. Compare this to data from previous owl pellet investigations described in the blog.
An interesting observation in Mrs. Rohn’s class. The three birds were found in one pellet. This was determined by the finding of three bird sternums, or breast bones (a bird sternum is keel shaped, not flat like a mammal sternum, with a bone sticking out perpendicular to the flat breast bone. This gives more muscles attachment points for the bird’s flight muscles). The breast bones were quite small, very likely from young birds. The owl must have found a bird nest with young in the nest and ate all of the young for its meal.
I will update our findings with tomorrow’s results.
Giemza's class – 11 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Miller's class – 13 pellets dissected contained 31 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Rohn's class – 13 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 3 birds
McCarron's class – 12 pellets dissected contained 29 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
A total of 49 pellets were dissected containing a total of 119 animals eaten by barn owls. That gives an average of 2.4 animals eaten per pellet. Compare this to data from previous owl pellet investigations described in the blog.
An interesting observation in Mrs. Rohn’s class. The three birds were found in one pellet. This was determined by the finding of three bird sternums, or breast bones (a bird sternum is keel shaped, not flat like a mammal sternum, with a bone sticking out perpendicular to the flat breast bone. This gives more muscles attachment points for the bird’s flight muscles). The breast bones were quite small, very likely from young birds. The owl must have found a bird nest with young in the nest and ate all of the young for its meal.
I will update our findings with tomorrow’s results.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Owl Pellet Data from Nazareth IS 25 January 2010
Here are the results of the first day of the Owl Ecology program for 4th graders at the Nazareth Intermediate School in Nazareth, PA.
Kimble – 11 pellets dissected contained 26 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Veleki – 12 pellets dissected contained 32 mice, 9 shrews, 1 mole, 0 birds
Thomas – 11 pellets dissected contained 30 mice, 3 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Emrick – 12 pellets dissected contained 23 mice, 5 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Roth – 12 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 5 shrews, 1 mole, 0 birds
A total of 58 pellets were dissected containing a total of 161 animals eaten by barn owls. That gives an average of 2.8 animals eaten per pellet. Compare this to data from previous owl pellet investigations described in the blog.
I will update our findings with tomorrows results.
Kimble – 11 pellets dissected contained 26 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Veleki – 12 pellets dissected contained 32 mice, 9 shrews, 1 mole, 0 birds
Thomas – 11 pellets dissected contained 30 mice, 3 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Emrick – 12 pellets dissected contained 23 mice, 5 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Roth – 12 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 5 shrews, 1 mole, 0 birds
A total of 58 pellets were dissected containing a total of 161 animals eaten by barn owls. That gives an average of 2.8 animals eaten per pellet. Compare this to data from previous owl pellet investigations described in the blog.
I will update our findings with tomorrows results.
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