This past week was an active week in birding at BSES! We had many exciting birds in the gym on Thursday, but we also had quite a few on the trail, too! When I arrived for my weekly walk, there was a bunch of activity in upper parking lot. House Finches & Song Sparrows were heard and seen foraging among the trees and shrubs. Also, there was a large bustle of American Crow activity on the trail with some flying over but many perched in the forest behind the recess yard. Once I

For a morning with temperatures in the low 20s , the birding action was hot! Lots of birds singing springtime songs and even a few engaged in some territorial tussles! I entered the trail shortly after sunrise to lots of chirping followed by White-throated Sparrows and Tufted Titmice singing their songs. Immediately upon my entry, a Red Fox ran across the meadow, making it's third consecutive appearance on my weekly morning walk before school. After snagging some photos, I co

The 5th Annual Trailblazers Christmas Bird Count proved to be another exciting year of birding and citizen science!!! We had a grand total of 23 birders out on the nature trail to complete our annual Saturday survey. Temperatures were admittedly pretty brutal this year so hats off to all who came and were able to brave the cold. This year's count was not our coldest, but the constant high winds made counting difficult and more than likely impacted our species total. We ended

We are back in 2018 with our first weekly report of the season! Due to last week's wintry weather, I wasn't able to get out on the nature trail even once. It was a shame to miss a week of data collection, but the snowy conditions precipitated on my parade last Thursday and Friday! I made up for the lack of visiting from the previous week with three visits during this week! First, I went on my weekly morning walk on Wednesday morning. Second, we had our Trailblazers Animal Tra

Our first event of 2018 was a great success! Nine hearty first and second grade students braved the winter afternoon as we scoured the nature trail in search of animal tracks! We were treated to the best of both worlds when it comes to tracking. First, we had snowfall from earlier in the week, providing quite a few tracks for us to observe. Also, we had a recent rainstorm, and when that's paired with the snow melt, we have ample mud; also great for tracking! Although the trai