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.