Trailblazers BSES Birding Club, Fall 2022
The fall session of Trailblazers BSES Birding Club was the perfect mix of nature and fun all in one!
During the fall session, we spent our time birding the BSES Nature Trail, the school campus, and Peanut Pond. We even spent some time learning in the classroom about birds and fall migration! Since this session occurred during the fall, we studied different families of birds and when they are found in our area during this migration season. Then, we went out to find them!
We tallied a total of 35 different species of birds throughout the fall session (see the full list below!) We observed year round residents of the nature trail such as Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Mockingbird, and American Robin. Some of these birds were even perched right on the school!
Of all the families of birds we studied, the woodpeckers definitely stole the show this season! We observed five different species of woodpecker. One woodpecker in particular was the most exciting of all: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! All the other woodpeckers we observed are seen year round on the BSES Nature Trail. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker however is only seen in our area in winter. This is the perfect bird to study since it has not yet arrived in migration when we start the fall session. Towards the end, we observed a very active Yellow-bellied Sapsucker exploring the dead tree limbs around Peanut Pond. At one point it even perched right over our heads!
On rainy days, we spent our time inside the classroom studying birds and playing games! To help us study, we had wonderful presentations from our awesome GVHS Trailblazers guides, Ethan Kang and James Harbison. Ethan is an avid birder who runs his own birding website: www.bearybirding.com. Ethan made a presentation about the best ways to identify migrating raptors (or birds of prey.) He also presented his website to the students! James made a presentation about the birds found in the meadow of the BSES Nature Trail. We even enjoyed a few rounds of Bird Bingo one day!
Overall, we had an absolutely fantastic session! We tallied 35 different species of birds, had close-up views of many cool species, and our guides did a fabulous job teaching the students. Very special thank you to James Harbison and Ethan Kang for stepping in as Trailblazers guides for the session! Also, thank you to BSES families and students for their continued support of Trailblazers. Hope to see you this winter (or spring!)
35 species for the session:
