After adapting the article slightly and adding some photos of local birds every student would be sure to recognize (magpies and chickadees), I used the story with my class. It generated a lot of conversation. One student from Laos, whose husband's family owns a ranch down near Pincher Creek, told about the bird apartment houses they build for swallows. Another student told of eating an owl (in his home country!) And of course many commented on how noisy magpies are.
The students especially liked the line in the article about this weekend's watching possibly being like a gateway drug into a bird-watching addiction. And a few students took me up on the challenge of trying to watch for 15 minutes this weekend.
Well, after encouraging my students to participate in the bird count, I sort of felt obligated to do the same. So earlier today, when I went for a bike ride, I combined it with some bird watching. I like birds, but I'm more of an incidental watcher -- I like to keep my eyes open while I'm out and about, but I don't make special trips just to look at birds. Today as I rode, I made a point of noticing and counting the birds I saw. Of course there were magpies -- 12 of them -- and 10 chickadees, along with a raucous blue jay or two. But the big surprise sighting was 4 robins. This is the earliest I have ever seen a robin, and I am pretty sure that if I hadn't set out with a plan to observe birds, I would have overlooked them.
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| not my photo - click to go to web site |
I just hope the poor things aren't too disappointed in conditions up here, after deciding to return early this year!
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