Birding for Beginners

Originally appears in the Summer 2014 issue

WE SAT QUIETLY IN THE FOREST, swatting mosquitoes and listening intently to the many species of birds singing in the trees around us. Sarah carefully pressed the button on the boom box, broad­casting the breeding call of the male black-throated blue warbler. Within seconds, Kevin focused his binoculars above us and whispered excitedly, “There he is!”

In response to our taped calls, a male black-throated blue warbler had zipped into the tree above us and was calling – bzzz-bzzz-bzzz-bzzzeeee. Denise carefully checked ‘singing male’ in the correct column on our data sheet and we grinned at each other across our little circle.

This was the culmination of weeks of focused study and discussion in our fifth grade classroom – about songbirds, their annual migration journeys, songs, calls, plumages, behav­iors, and how they depend on specific habitats for breeding. Students investigated the ecosystems in the forest preserve across the street from our school, gathering and analyzing data about birds and their breeding habitats.