Trailblazers BSES Birding Club, Winter 2025
- Brian Quindlen
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
Our winter session of Trailblazers BSES Birding Club was both birdy and fun! We observed some exciting birds, learned how to use field guides to research birds, and we even got to play in the snow!!!
That's right, our very first session featured a Trailblazers favorite: We got to enjoy a SNOW DAY on the nature trail! The nigth before our first day, we had a few inches of snow, but it was not enough to cancel school. It's rare that we get to enjoy fresh snowfall on the trail! So instead of our typical introductory bird walk, we bundled up in our snow gear and went for a snowy hike. Even though birding was not our primary purpose, we got great looks at Eastern Bluebird, a large flock of American Robins, and a male Red-shouldered Hawk! We also built our best snow creations around the outdoor classroom.
The following two sessions gave us great opportunities for winter birding! One of the days we had blacktop-only birding since the trail was wet and slushy. Even though we weren't on the trail, we saw one of the most exciting birds of the session: a Merlin! This bird is a member of the falcon family that can be found in our area in winter. They are known for perching on the tallest points of trees, and they are also known for being FAST. The whole group got to see both of these elements as the Merlin gave us great views before zipping away!
The third session gave us a chance to hike the entire BSES Nature Trail! Along our journey, we were treated to a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; a woodpecker that we can only find in winter on the trail! We also observed five different birds of prey on the walk: Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Cooper's Hawk. We ended our walk with what seemed like an endless stream of Fish Crows passing BSES. This approximate count of about 240 Fish Crows represents a new all-time high count of the species for the BSES Nature Trail!
Our fourth session of club was met with inclement weather! Heavy rains kept us inside, but that didn't stop us from learning about birds. Students learned how to use a field guide. They also created bird illustrations based upon species they learned about in their books! We enjoyed field guides such as The Young Birders Guide by Bill Thompson III, The Sibley Guide by David Allen Sibley, and The Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America by Kenn Kaufman. We also watched a Trailblazers favorite while we worked: The Duckumentary!
Our final session of the winter had to be rescheduled for the end of March, which gave our last bird walk more of a springtime feel! Our final bird walk took us to Peanut Pond; a piece of nearby private property named for Peanut the Goat (the infamous goat who escaped the farm and tried to come to school multiple times!) Our walk to Peanut Pond is a favorite of the students. Not only is it a beautiful property with animals of its own, but there is a beautiful pond that gives us a habitat that's quite different than the BSES Nature Trail! On this final trip, we had brief looks at an adult Bald Eagle. We also had a nice immature Red-shouldered Hawk fly right past the group!
Overall, we had a phenomenal session of winter birding and fun! We tallied a grand total of 32 different species of birds. Within that total, we observed 8 different species of birds of prey, 5 different species of woodpeckers, and we established a record-breaking high count for Fish Crow for the BSES Nature Trail! To dig into what we observed bird wise, check out our nearly complete eBird Trip Report! We are looking forward to experiencing spring migration in April and May with the spring session of Trailblazers BSES Birding Club!
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