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.