When we woke up to a cloudy, 48 degree morning up in Leggett, CA, we weren't sure if we were going to see many birds with our school group today. But, fortunately, we were wrong!
We arrived at the Leggett Valley School and met with the ENTIRE school in their gymnasium. Granted, the whole school (preschool-12th grade) was only about 50 students, but they were one very excited flock when we arrived. Kevin began by teaching everyone about the dawn chorus--that time in the early morning when the birds are most active and chatty--and about the various voices of different birds in the area. It got everyone's ears keyed into listening to birds.
A quick video of the Leggett Valley School dawn chorus...
We then split the school into two groups. The young ones went with Kevin and the middle and high schoolers went off with Darrow. We talked about bird observation, binoculars, and recording observations in the field, and then we headed out onto their beautiful campus for an extended bird walk.
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| Watching a flock of feeding Dark-eyed Juncos |
The older students worked on identification, bird behavior, and field recording. The younger students worked on sound recognition, identification, and bird drawing. Great times were had by all and we were quickly asked to come back next year!
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| Identifying a Belted Kingfisher in the field! |
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Showing off their drawings of birds they saw on their walk
(American Robin, Stellar's Jays, and a Great Blue Heron!) |
Our Quote of the Day:
"Hey Kevin. Before this, I used to think birds were lame, but now I think they're AWESOME!"
-Seth (4th Grade)
Species list from our walk: Dark-eyed Junco, White-Crowned Sparrow, Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Black Phoebe, Anna's Hummingbird, Wrentit, Great Blue Heron, Acorn Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Mallard, Belted Kingfisher, Turkey, Brewer's Blackbird, Red-shouldered Hawk, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Stellar's Jay, American Robin.
We started our day today by driving through the rain and fog up a gravel road into the hills above Laytonville, CA to visit the very small, but charming Spy Rock Elementary. The school--complete with garden, cobb dragon, and tetherball court--houses only 8 children in grades K-3rd. It is a small school of mountain children, but they are grand in their spirit and gratitude for visitors. We began our rainy day lesson with meeting Cedar the Cedar Waxwing and imitating the voices of the morning birds. 
We rolled into a game to learn about different bird bills and what each bill is specialized for. We "ate" seeds, butterflies, and nectar and learned that you can't really eat seeds with a nectar-eating bill. Nor can you really eat bugs with a seed-cracking bill. But, you CAN get quite a bit of food if you have a generalist bill like an American Robin.
