Field Ornithology at Ostrander Elementary School, Wallkill, NY

Here are the results of the spring bird surveys that were done with Mrs. McQuiston, Mrs. Wager, Mrs. Missale and Mrs. Stokes’ 3rd grade classes on Thursday and Friday of last week.

Mrs. McQuiston’s class

Thursday, March 17, 2:00 PM

Temperature – low 50’s

Strong breeze from the west

5 % cirrus cloud cover

Red-tailed Hawk – 2

Ring-billed Gull – 2

Mourning Dove – 3

American Crow – 76

American Robin – 4

Northern Cardinal – 3

Red-winged Blackbird – 8

Common Grackle – 3

House Sparrow – 10

111 birds total among 10 species

Mrs. Wager & Mrs. Missale’s class

Friday, March 18 ,11:40 AM

Temperature – high 50’s

Very strong west wind

99% low cumulus cloud cover

Canada Goose – 315

Red-tailed Hawk – 3 (2 adults, 1 juvenile)

Ring-billed Gull – 1

American Crow – 4

American Robin – 4

European Starling – 4

Red-winged Blackbird – 12

Common Grackle – 7

House Sparrow – 7

360 birds total among 9 species

Mrs. Stokes’ class

Friday, March 18 2:05 PM

Temperature – high 60’s

Very strong west wind

20% cumulus cloud cover

Red-tailed Hawk – 4

Mourning Dove – 3

American Crow – 1

American Robin – 7 Cedar Waxwing – 3

Northern Cardinal – 1

Red-winged Blackbird – 12

Common Grackle – 9

House Sparrow – 10

37 birds total among 9 species

A total of 12 different kinds of birds were observed. Six species were seen by all three groups. The Canada Geese were for the most part in three large groups at very high altitude. These birds were definitely in migration heading north. The large numbers of crows seen on Wednesday with Mrs. McQuiston’s class were likely birds heading back to roost from their daytime feeding areas. These birds streamed past in a loose group over a period of a few minutes. We wondered if we might observe a similar movement on the 17^th. We did not. This was likely due to the high winds that day. The strong westerly winds on the 17^th were about 20 to 30 mph and may have affected how, when and where the crows flew that day on their way from their feeding areas.

A classic way to judge winds speed is the Beaufort Wind Scale developed in 1806 by Sir Francis Beaufort, a British admiral. See link to the right to go to the Wikipedia entry for more information on Beaufort and how to use his scale to measure wind speed.

It would be interesting to observe birds around the school as the season progresses. In a few short weeks many more different kinds of birds will be returning from their winter homes to find nesting areas around the school. At the same time large groups of birds like the Canada Geese and the American Crows will most likely not be seen as this grouping or flocking behavior would not be done during the nesting season. An overall year list of birds would give an idea as to the birds that migrate through to more northerly habitats, return to nest during the warm weather or are resident all year round. Such a list if maintained over a number of years could be used to determine such things as global climate change, habitat change or species change in the environment.

Compare bird observation findings at other schools in my blog. Look through the archived entries to see done at the same schools in different years, on different dates and at different times.