Owl Pellet Studies at Altamont and Jefferson Elementary Schools

On Friday, March 25, I visited the Altamont Elementary School and worked with three fourth grade classes. I worked with Ms. DeGennaro, Mrs. Flanagan and Mrs. Vogel’s classes. Here is what we found when we dissected owl pellets.

Ms. DeGennnaro’s class – in 8 pellets dissected we found 20 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds

Mrs. Flanagans’ class – in 9 pellets we found 24 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds

Mrs. Vogel’s class – in 8 pellets we found 24 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds

This is a very small sample to use to determine if my hypothesis (remember I had answered the question, “What is an owl’s favorite foo?” with the hypothesis that mice were the most favored, shrews second most and moles and birds tied for third) was correct. Clearly, mice are the most favored, but before we can say that shrews are the second most favored we have to think about what these numbers mean.

Yes, there were 2 shrews found in the 25 pellets we dissected along with no moles or birds. That may or may not mean that shrews indeed are the second most favored over moles and birds. Our sample size of owl pellets is very small. Because of this we should not be ready to say that shrews are surely the second most favored food. We would want to dissect more pellets to get more evidence. As a matter of fact I did an owl ecology session with 5^th graders at Jefferson Elementary School in Rotterdam today. Here is what we found.

Mrs. Bondi’s class – in 11 pellets dissected we found 32 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds

Mrs. Walker’s class – in 11 pellets we found 24 mice, 0 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds

Mrs. West’s class – in 11 pellets we found 29 mice, 7 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds

Mrs. Fiske’s class – in 9 pellets we found 23 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles and 0 birds

Mrs. Zanta’s class – in 11 pellets we found 37 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles and 0 birds

Looking at just the Jefferson Elementary findings we see out of 53 pellets dissected there were 145 mice, 10 shrews and no birds or moles. This confirms what we found at Altamont, mice are the most favored. Now with a larger sample size we can better determine the preference for shrews. With two shrews found by the Altamont students and 10 shrews found by Jefferson students it does appear that shrews are the second favored food. With no moles or birds found at either schools we are still not sure if they are a third favored food. As a matter of fact with no moles or birds found we might presume that they are not eaten at all.

Just as discussed in each class I visited, the more pellets we can dissect the better of an understanding we will have for owl food preference. If we increase our sample size we would get more data that might shed light on the question of what role do moles and birds play in the owl food preference. We can do that by looking at what was found in owl pellets dissections in other schools, including what was found at Altamont and Jefferson Elementary schools in previous years. To do this check out my blog at www.schoolyardnaturalist.blogspot.com to see what the findings at other schools were and then draw conclusions about my hypothesis.

Of course if any student would like to do further studies on their own and dissect more pellets they can get pellets from Pellets,Inc. at www.pelletsinc.com. Naturally if students have more questions they can e-mail me and I would love to help them with their research.

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.

Owl Pellet Study at Ostrander Elementary School

I completed the final owl study class with 2^nd graders at Ostrander Elementary School in Wallkill, NY today. Here are the results of the owl pellet dissections.

Dutka’s class – 8 pellets dissected, prey found – 22 mice, 3 shrew, 0 moles, 1 bird

Lupoli’s class – 8 pellets dissected, prey found – 17 mice, 3 shrew, 1 mole, 1 bird

Nisa’s class – 5 pellets dissected, prey found – 7 mice, 3 shrew, 2 moles, 0 birds

Busse’s class – 8 pellets dissected prey found – 15 mice, 2 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds

I had presented the following hypothesis to the students in response to the question what is the favorite food of Barn Owls. Mice and other rodents are the most favored food. Shrews, small insectivore mammals are the second favored food. Moles, another small insect and worm eating mammal, and birds, small birds mostly found in barn areas are tied for the third most favored food. What does the data tell us about the hypothesis?

In the 29 pellets dissected there were 77 prey animals found. Of these 77 animals 61 were mice. Mice were definitely the most favored food.

My hypothesis stated that shrews were the second favorite. Is that correct? Of the remaining 16 animals eaten by Barn Owls that produced the pellets we dissected 11 were shrews. What do you think?

Now look at the number of moles and the number of birds eaten, 3 and 2. Though it is not an exact tie, you can’t get any closer to a tie than that. It does seem that moles and birds are tied as the third favorite food.

Finally consider this. There are many other potential prey for the owls, small amphibians, large insects, other small mammals, but it seems from what we found that owls seem to not prey on them. You can research this to find out if Barn Owls might eat other animals. One research source is my blog, www.schoolyardnaturalist.blogspot.com. Check it and see what other data has been collected with owl pellet studies at other schools, including what was found at Ostrander in previous years.

A January Owl Ecology Class

I am late with this post. My apologies to the young ornithologists at the Nazareth Intermediate School in Nazareth, PA. In January I had my annual visit to this school where I did a lesson on Owl Ecology. We talked about the 4 common owls of the Nazareth, PA area, the Eastern Screech-owl (Otus asio), the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), the Barred Owl (Strix varia) and the Barn Owl (Tyto alba). Our discussion covered the identification, behavior, and habitat needs of these owls. We also talked about how students might do field studies of the owls with the help of their parents or other responsible adults.

We then dissected owl pellets to see what food preferences the Barn Owl has. The pellets we dissected were from western Barn Owls purchased from Pellets,Inc. (see link below to the right). Here is the data we collected.

Thomas/Miller classes 24 pellets, 54 mice, 6 shrews, 2 moles, 1 bird

Kimble/Velekei classes 26 pellets, 52 mice, 4 shrews, 4 moles, 0 birds

Roth/Giemza classes 24 pellets, 57 mice, 6 shrews, 1 moles, 1 bird

Emrick/DeBoer classes 24 pellets, 37 mice, 8 shrews, 5 moles, 1 bird, 1 insect

Genua class 12 pellets, 28 mice, 6 shrews, 3 moles, 1 bird

Reed class 10 pellets, 12 mice, 5 shrews, 1 moles, 0 birds

Rohn/Quinones classes 23 pellets, 45 mice, 4 shrews, 1 mole, 0 birds

Reynolds/McCarron classes 25 pellets, 50 mice, 6 shrews, 3 moles, 2 birds

Analysis

One hundred sixty-eight pellets were dissected by fourteen classes of 4^th graders. A total of 335 mice, 45 shrews, 20 moles and 6 birds were found. In addition to these prey, one pellet included the remains of an insect. These remains appeared to be leg segments from a something like a mole cricket (Gryllotalpidae family). Taken in whole this data indicates that on average Barn Owls eat 2.42 animals per meal (the pellet is a result of a meal – in one night the owls might produce 3 or 4 pellets as they feed, then stop to rest and digest and then go back to feeding throughout the night). This average matches findings with other owl pellet dissections conducted with other schools (see archives for other owl pellet dissection results).

In our discussion before the dissection we had hypothesized that mice would be the favorite food, with shrews second favorite and moles and birds tied for third. It is clear that mice indeed are the most common prey and that shrews are second. It seems though that moles are more often eaten than birds by a factor of three. Look through other owl pellet dissections in the archives of this blog and see if this bears out with the findings in those sessions.

I wonder if the owl ate the insect as a primary prey or if it might have ingested the insect when it ate a mole that had eaten the cricket. Moles feed on underground insects and other invertebrates. It is possible the mole had just eaten the cricket and then was eaten by the owl. Unfortunately I did not take notes as to what else was found in the pellet with the insect parts. If mole remains were found along with the cricket remains that would support the idea that the owl ate a mole that had eaten the cricket. If I ever find insects parts in owl pellets in the future I know that I will be sure to make note of what other prey were found in the same pellet.

The owl food chain affects farmers. Since mice, and these mice are for the most part are field mice (Microtus spp), are the favored prey the owls, eating them affects farm production by reducing the amount of plant crops eaten by the mice. I have a little math exercise I call “Mouse Mathematics” that I will post in the near future that illustrates what this cost savings for a farmer might be. Look for it being posted soon.

Native Americans and the White-tailed Deer

I've been doing my Native Americans and the White-tailed Deer program a lot recently. In this program I show students how the Eastern Woodland Indians used the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in one way or another for food, clothing, tools, toys, musical instruments, ornaments and jewelry. I'm grateful to Larry Montalto and Jeff Gottlieb for their help with research and materials. An outstanding resource that Larry shared with me is the book "Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills" edited by David Wescott.

Larry tells me that he has found over 60 things made from or with deer parts. See a link I found to a cool poster that depicts some of these items and where they come from in the deer.

At the Jefferson Elementary School in Rotterdam Amanda in Mrs. Hemphill’s class came up with some questions that she sent me. Here are my answer that I shared with her and her classmates.

How many babies do they have? They usually have two babies. Sometimes they have only one and every now and then they might have triplets.

How long do they live? Deer can live to about 10-12 years of age but that is very unusual for wild deer. Females live longer than males. It would not be unusual for a female to reach 7 or 8 years old. Males usually only get to be only 3 to 5 years old. Many male deer get hit by cars as they run around chasing after female deer in the fall. They also spend so much time chasing females that they don’t eat enough to build up fat for the winter. If it is a very snowy winter they might not survive.

What does they foot print look like? I down loaded this from the internet.

How many white-tailed deer are there? The number of white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania is estimated at about 1,500,000.

What are their enemies? Man is the biggest predator of the deer which includes deer that are hunted and deer that are killed by cars and trucks. Coyotes and bobcats will also prey on deer, especially young deer and deer in winter when there is deep snow.

Are some of them friendly? Deer are wild animals and even if they seem friendly can be dangerous, especially during the fall mating season.

You can learn more about deer online or by getting books at the library. Deer are one of the most studied wild mammals so there is a lot of information about them available.

More Bird Study Activity

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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